Germany (and London): Photo recap

Last night I battled jet lag to upload and sort through our photos from London and Germany. My eyes were red, but we had American Idol, the Mavericks-Hornets game, and election coverage to keep us awake. The photos kept me awake too, of course, because they reminded me of what a great trip it was.

First of all, even though the forecast called for rainy, 50-degree weather throughout our trip, we had surprisingly nice and springlike weather the whole time. One day in London was crazy, with rain one minute, sunshine the next, then both simultaneously five minutes after that. And the next day was gorgeous. Just check out that sky.



I LOVED London. I sort of thought I would, and Torsten, who lived there for three years before he moved to the US, said that I would, and also I had been there before, but only in 1995, and I hardly remembered it. But wow, it was great. It was just the perfect city. It's sophisticated but not snobby, and beautiful and complex, and each little neighborhood is like its own mini city. Often after I spend a few days in a city, I feel like I've more or less seen it all, but in London I knew I hadn't even gotten to the tip of the iceberg. AND the city buses are double decker, so I got the luxury of seeing the sights from the top of a bus without paying exorbitant tourist fees. How much more perfect could it get?



Basically, I want to go back to London. Although we had a good time in Germany too. The weather there was also surprisingly nice and mild. We didn't do much--we weren't there for long, and it would have bothered Torsten's mother quite a bit if we'd gone jaunting off to faraway towns like last time. So we stuck around his hometown, walking around the city, hiking a little trail that Torsten loved as a kid, and visiting a garden show. It was very peaceful. And very nice.



So! Since we're talking about travel today, let's address your questions that have to do with that subject.

First, The Tomball Three asks, How many countries have you visited and what are they?
Outside of the US, obviously, I've visited Canada, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Senegal. So I guess that means I've visited nine foreign countries.

Ashley D asks, If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?
This question stumps me because there are so many places I want to visit. My practical side wants to say Antarctica, because I want to visit all seven continents and that one is the most difficult and expensive to get to. So if I could travel anywhere, that would have to be it, since I would be more likely to get to the other places later. But high on the list are also Japan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Panama.

Alexa asks, What is the most outrageous thing you witnessed while in Germany?
Ummmmm. Wow, this is a really tough question. I haven't really seen anything outrageous in Germany, and particularly not on this last trip, which was very low-key. Let's see. Last time we were there some woman backed into Torsten's parked car without even looking behind her, then flipped out at him and called him an asshole like it was his fault. That was pretty outrageous. Although not specifically German. Does that count?

The Frog Princess has two questions, both travel-related. The first is, What is your favourite German food? Please describe in detail.
There is a lot of really yummy German food, including schnitzel, bratwurst, and black forest cake. But my absolute favorite has got to be mett. I had never heard of it before my last trip to Germany, but it is basically minced pork meat from the inside of a sausage. It's served raw, usually on a baguette with onion. And it is SO GOOD.

The second is, Based on this last trip, what is one touristy thing that I absolutely must see/do while I'm in London in July?
Oh man. This is impossible. If Torsten were answering this question, he would say the London Eye, which is a HUGE wheel above the Thames, like a Ferris Wheel only much, much bigger. It takes about half an hour to go around and you are in a big glass capsule with like 20 other people. It provides fantastic views. Of course, it also costs about 13 pounds, which is a lot considering the exchange rate. But it was fun. Still, it wasn't my favorite part of the trip. I would suggest walking the Millennium Mile, which has the added bonus of taking you past Tower Bridge, which I love. Also, I'd take one of the normal double decker buses, and try to ride in the front at the top--on some routes, you get a great view of lots of the sites, and it doesn't cost nearly as much as the sightseeing bus tours. But really, you just can't go wrong with London. That city is AMAZING.

You can see the full set of photos here.