Bären Express

After giving the driver information on the destination, he commented "Yeah, I've taken a few people there tonight already." To which I commented, "I bet a bunch of guys with beards & ball caps and bomber jackets." Driver: "Yeah, is there some kind of event going on there?" Deep breath, here it comes. Me: "Well as a matter of fact, yes." I proceed to explain a bit as above about the whole weekend event: dinners, discos, contest, which in some respect resonated with him in a polite kind of way. He may not go to my church, but he's found some of the same enlightenment it seems. Driver: "So tell me about what the popular culture & the media over in the states is teaching heterosexual women about how their men should be? I find it annoying that the media is teaching German women that their men should all be clean shaven and smooth chested. That's all they see on the television."

I was a bit generous in tipping him.

I've not been online much over the Thanksgiving time while Charles was here, both for obvious and not so obvious reasons. As I write this, he's on the plane heading toward Chicago then Austin, and I'm on an over-full and delayed ICE train from Frankfurt back to Munich. The unorganized one at work wants to have a face-to-face session on Monday to create a workplan, and by his measures it needs to be done immediately. In retrospect, it would have been smarter of me to take all my stuff with me to Cologne and go from there to Hannover, but sometimes I'm a little slow. Strange how it is so urgent with him when it’s our stuff, but anytime we need something from the customer he writes them an email that says "can we please talk about what we need next week."
My and Charles' week together was good, with some down time for the two of us on Thursday and Friday and Saturday in Cologne. We were able to reconnect with our friends from Amsterdam, as well as with some from Germany. Thursday when we arrived, the Christmas markets on the plazas were already in full swing, so we did some walking about and ate some German junk food outside: bratwurst & onions. In the evening we had a quiet sauna evening to warm back up, and went to some of the bars we like haunting. We met some new friends along the way, including an American living in Naples, Italy, and a couple of hilarious Irish guys that were at the 'Cox' bar.

Friday we did a little shopping for a travel bag for Charles. It seems our luggage is reaching the point of no return: zippers are giving out on my bag and a wheel is falling off the mid-sized bag that Chaz brought. We didn't quite find what we were looking for, so comprised with a big cheap soft duffle bag that we're counting on just to get his clothes back to the states. We know we can get what we want back home in a few weeks, so this was a good solution for the immediate crisis.

After our adventures in the city, Chaz and I went for coffee to Quo Vadis where our friends from Amsterdam had arrived and were having coffee, which is practically the same as holding court. Timon surprised us there with a set of chocolate initials, which is a Dutch traditional gift for St. Nikolaus' day, the day Europeans typically exchange gifts. Wholly unexpected, it kind of reminded us that we hadn't been over here for a European holiday season at all. Both times I’ve been here in the winter I’ve been in the UK, which isn’t quite the same. Dinner Friday night was the annual adventure at Taoromina, which is right across the street from the hotel where Jan & Timon stay. The place isn’t spectacular, but its situated right where you can see everyone walking, and on big events it tends to fill up with the people we know. What I found most amusing was that the group of friends that I have from Munich, the Munich Bears, had reserved a big table and had a big dinner planned as well. It is kind of interesting finding the points where the circles in one’s life intersect.

After dinner was the “Butch & Bear” disco at a theater late into the evening. We didn’t dance so much, mostly we were just trading rounds of beers & chit-chatting & watching people as we sat on the edge of the stage with our friends from Amsterdam and one of our good friends from Düsseldorf. Charles had a moment of epiphany that night. As we walked back to our hotel in the drizzle, he commented that what made the evening a success for him was being with people we knew and people that knew him. It’s very empowering to be in a strange land but not be a stranger.

Saturday we ventured off on our own to Bonn since the German National Gallery Exhibition Hall there had what we thought was ‘the’ Tutankahmen exhibition. While it was a King Tut exhibit, there were some pieces Chaz was hoping to see that weren’t there. Notably absent was the head piece of gold that’s typically associated with the exhibit. That was a bit disappointing, particularly for Chaz, who has a story of his family’s attempt to go see the exhibit in the US that was foiled by a museum closed on Monday. It was, however, a nice day for us all told, prior to heading off to the contest that night. We had dinner with a Croatian friend of ours, Leo, and the contest was a riot once we got there. They don’t take themselves seriously at all, and the moderator for the show is talented & hilarious. We didn’t spend the whole time watching the show, but did plenty of catching up with both newcomers to the show and with all our friends.

I’m nearly in Munich now, and will have to figure out if I’m going to fly to Hannover tonight or tomorrow morning. I think I’ll figure out how to get their tonight. I don’t really want to struggle with the crowds in the morning, much less with getting up at the crack of dawn.