images courtesy of j and mom's digital cameras, text from my travel journal.

day one:
i have a big honkin' duffell bag. i hate planes. airports are their own little countries - you want water? water eight bucks. you no like? go back to own country. i proceed not to punch anybody. the sleepy pills don't work. the flight is 8 hours and i change cd's three times in the first 20 minutes. i miss cielo.

mom's reading a book. her headphones are on backwards but her hair's real pretty. she's sitting by the window and it's getting dark fast.

day one remnants...day two didn't really happen? when a fly gets on the plane in chicago and goes to munich, does he need a ticket? i feel kind of sad for him though, buzzing around the cabin. mom and i decide he'll have to settle down with a nice housefrau here in alemania.

it bothers me that 'lufthansa' sounds so much like 'luftwaffa'.

thanks to television i know that comic book in german is 'comic buch'. now if only i could say cd's. i want e nomine, finsternis.

we unload at the hotel at 9am local time, 2am home time. we are dead and sleep 2 hours. we force ourselves at noon to go exchange money and walk around. back to the room, i sleep more, then a 20 minute walk to schweig. no luck on food, so we get drinks and tapas at our hotel. a quick meet with the tour and another walk before bed.

diet coke in other countries is 'coke light'. the airplane has the cutest little cans ever.

german tv. wow. they have porn, but i have a mother. i lose! however - m*a*s*h, american films dubbed, the nanny & full house all with crappy replacement voices. but then, SPONGEBOB! thank god for cnn and mtv.

i kill a huge freaking spider! i am arachnivore. times twelve.

day three? two? i'm lost. good morning germany! it rained. breakfast is amazing, food in general is amazing. sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, orange guice. grapes with seeds.

modest mouse makes me smile.

this morning - linderhoff castle and odd weather, microwave burgers and chocolate with marzipan. the mountains are awesome, there are cows and short-legged ponies. it looks like winsconsin on steroids...the houses are perfect.

kids who speak foreign languages are infinitely cuter.

i found a kitty! a black beauty, walking up the steep grotto path using the cobble sidewalk curb. green eyes. he crossed to my side and walked right up so i could pet him.

so cuuuuute.

it's hard to get in trouble on a tour full of old people.

day three ~

out of austria, into lichtenstein and finally switzerland. all these quaint swiss houses have satellite dishes.

lichtenstein sells warhammer figurines and 'california' barbie. there are comic buchs, but they're anime and kid's stuff. they're still large, and have free gifts (watch, toy, frisbee) attatched to the front. no luck on cd's yet.

we have swiss francs now, to add to our cash collection of US and euros.

more chocolate.
au lait.
swöön.

i'd like to bring home (1) incense and (2) shotglasses. my calves are killing me :x oh, and we went through a 15 minute tunnel.