Celebrating the 29th year of my existence

Last week, Noah and I packed up the car and the dogs and headed west for my birthday vacation.  While the destination wasn’t as ‘cool’ as an Amazonian jungle (how Noah spent his 29^th birthday last month), it was still an amazing vacation spot: Lake Constance.  The lake lies on the border of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.  We decided to stick to the German side of the lake – mainly because it was the closest spot to Munich / the shortest drive for us.  Plus as Switzerland is not on the Euro/ I hear it is rather expensive, we passed on that country.  So even though I could look across the lake to the Swiss side only 15 kilometers away, I still have yet to set foot in Switzerland.  Future trip here?  Ok, I digress…. 

Switzerland across the way (and a Swiss boat to boot!)

We stayed at the beautiful historic Hotel Bad Schachen near the island of Lindau.  The history of this hotel began over 250 years ago when a mineral spring was transformed into a spa.  The current hotel that we stayed in was built in the early 1900s.  In fact after WWII, the French occupational troops used Hotel Bad Schachen as a holiday location until 1949, when the hotel began to welcome guests once again.  Of course I just did all this research writing this blog, so we had no idea of all of that when we were actually there last week. 

But what we could easily see was that our choice of hotels was perfect.  For starters, we had a wonderful corner balcony with a beautiful view of Lake Constance. 

The next great perk of the hotel: a lakeside swimming pool with a huge lawn of lounge chairs and direct access to the lake.  My first birthday activity (after unpacking of course) was a given.  It was time to lather up in my SPF 100+ sunscreen and do some swimming.  After dipping one foot in the lake, I bailed and dragged Noah to the swimming pool which was supposedly 2 whole degrees warmer.  Once I had my fill of swimming, I was ready to lay in a lounge chair and enjoy my book.  Noah, who can never get enough of the water, grabbed his snorkeling gear and jumped into the lake.  Crazy boy. 

The only picture I took of the pool area... and you can't see the pool

Soon it was evening and time for my birthday dinner.  Noah had found a BBQ restaurant nearby – Stadthaus – known for high quality BBQ.  As we are always looking for alternatives to a traditional Bavarian-German meal, this sounded fantastic.  And we both knew that we shouldn’t have our expectations too high, what with coming from Texas and all.  My official review on this place is if you go in expecting a unique style of smoked meats, and not Texas BBQ, then this place is great.  But even though my mind knew that the pork in my pulled-pork sandwich was truly fantastic, I couldn't help but wish it had some amazing BBQ sauce in it to truly make it perfect.  Damn you Texan BBQ and the high standards you have instilled in me!!! 

Ready to head out for my birthday dinner

The next day we decided to check out the island of Lindau – about 3 kilometers away.  Since the morning weather was so perfect, we skipped on figuring out a train route and instead leashed up the dogs for a wonderful walk through Schachen and then along the lake.  We passed some truly amazing homes mansions, and I spent some time dreaming about a life where we could live at one of these places.  Though I will happily take a 5 day visit and count myself lucky. 

The dogs waiting at the train crossing; Beautiful photo of the park path Noah took

40 minutes later we were in the heart of the island.  We stopped for an amazing lunch at Cafe/Bar/Restaurant Großstadt, a lunch so great Noah claimed this was his favorite restaurant ever and began outlining a plan for us to open a similar place ourselves.  Our food was simple – a pepper soup and a Mediterranean wrap – but it was done so perfectly and with such a freshness that gave it an edge that other wrap/soup cafés just don’t seem to have.  Though you should pass on the chocolate milkshake – it was a room-temperature protein shake.  I don’t know when I will finally learn my lesson and stop trying to find a good chocolate shake in Germany.  

We spent the next few hours exploring the little island of Lindau, which was so small we could walk all the way around it in that short time.  We saw the Rathaus, strolled along Maximilianstrasse, saw the pretty tiled Diebsturm, and checked out the harbor, Seehafen.  We even found a place that would put your name on rice.  I had no idea how international this idea was. 

Left to Right: Diebsturm; Rathaus; Cute colorful buildings

Seehafen

Your Name on Rice!

As we walked back to the hotel, we could feel that the temperature had definitely risen since our morning stroll.  So what better way to cool off?  Back to the pool/lake – where this time I toughened up and skipped the pool and went straight for the lake.  We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and reading and relaxing.  That night after dinner, we watched The Shining.  I had mentioned to Noah that the hotel reminded me a bit of the hotel in the movie and was shocked to learn he had never seen it!  Now he is all up to speed on the famous ‘Here’s Johnny’ scene, and next time will not be shocked to learn what Redrum means. 

Our only set plan for Friday was to rent a paddle boat in front of the hotel, but when we woke up to choppy water and lots of wind we decided to move that plan to later in the afternoon.  Instead we took a short drive down to Austria’s Pfänder Mountain where you can take the award winning cable car up the mountain.  Seriously – it earned the title of "Ausgezeichnete Österreichische Sommerbahn", or “Excellent Austrian Cable Car”.  At the top there is a small ‘Wild Park’ with a walkway through a few zoo-like pens.  We accidently started at the back and wound are way to the front, where only after we exited the entrance did we see the sign that the dogs weren’t allowed.  Oops! 

The trip down

Back at the hotel that afternoon, we saw the water had finally calmed down.  Paddle boat time!  We Noah paddled us around to check out the beautiful mansions that neighbor the hotel.  And of course I had my floatie with me, so I was prepared for our swim in the lake.  

I'll take either one of these - I won't be picky

Saturday brought the rain with it.  And it was nonstop rain – beginning at 10am Saturday and then following us back to Munich the next day.  I had expected the weather to turn, so we had made sure to fill our prior three days with all the outdoor activities that were a ‘must’ for us.  Because of that, we had no problem with the idea of staying inside all day.  We spent the morning reading on the balcony, and then had a nice lunch of cake down in the hotel lobby.  In the afternoon we checked out the hotel’s spa / indoor pool area (have I mentioned how amazing this hotel was?).  I am finally learning to use vacation time to simply relax, and this was definitely the place to do it.  The rest of the day was spent watching movies, reading, and playing minesweeper on the iPad (we are both obsessed).  The dogs were also happy to have a respite from such ‘busy’ days so they could work on catching up on all that missed daytime sleep.  

A well-rounded, healthy lunch

When Sunday morning arrived, it was time to make our way back to Munich.  Of course the dogs were extremely alert to our packing - working hard to ensure they didn’t get left behind.  By the time we made it back home, we had left the rainstorms behind and returned to blue skies.  And since I have extra vacation days from working while Noah was in Brazil, I was able to take Monday off too.  It was nice having one more day of sleeping in before returning to reality (sorry Noah!).  

Sadie watching our every move while we packed up

Post World Cup (Adventures?)

Julie here!  Now it is my turn to write about the World Cup, or the Weltmeisterschaft if I want to be cocky with my German! 

Since Noah has returned from Brazil, no World Cup game has lived up to his USA v Portugal experience.  But that doesn’t mean we didn’t try.  The first big match we went out to watch was USA v Belgium in the Sweet 16 (or whatever FIFA wants to call it).  Sadly for us the game was at 10 pm on a weeknight here.  But who cares – we decided to go to be real fans and go out and watch it at Hirschgarten with all the other true Americans!  Yep – all 9 of us were there. 

To be fair – it had been raining that day, and it was even sprinkling on us a bit while we waited for the game began.  This reduced the massive crowd from about 30 people to about 20 (not everyone was American, you see, hence my earlier estimates of 9).  Noah and I were set up on the first table under the tree with our American flag spread out on the table like a nice brotzeit tablecloth.  Noah had on his jersey, and I was sporting the scarf.  USA! USA! USA!

A group of three American college kids sat at the table next to us, though sporting exactly 0% America.  Lame.  I get that you might be uncomfortable drawing attention to the fact you are an American tourist as you travel through Europe, but come on!  You are there to root your country on!  Have some pride!  After two drunk Germans came up to us and our American paraphernalia and started wishing our team luck and wanting to talk America with us, the youngsters next to us finally stopped whispering their English and relaxed.

The other 5 Americans that I counted sat two tables behind us with some of their international friends.  For the record – Noah and I were the original ones there, so I like to think our outlandish patriotism drew our fellow countrymen to us like magnets.  So even though it was a late night, and even though we lost, Noah and I had a good time in our tiny crowd of people cheering on America.  

Now that USA was out of the running, I decided to throw my support behind the country that gave me a work/residence visa.  Go Deutschland!  Now I had been saying from the beginning that I thought Germany would win, which was reflected in my ESPN bracket that I set up.  It sometimes seemed I had more confidence in Germany than others around here.  I heard many people voicing their doubts due to the wake of the injuries the German team had sustained before the tournament.  Soooo un-American.   (Get it?  Because they are Germans?)

We decided to go back to Hirschgarten to see Germany play France in the Elite 8.  This time it was a Friday afternoon, so we knew the place would be packed.  To keep it more low key, we took the dogs and blankets and dinner and posted up on the grass behind the beer garden.  The view wasn’t amazing, but it was nicer than being jam packed into the beer garden.  As I wrote that I realize how old I sound.  Anyways, the crowd inside the beer garden was massive, plus many others were on the grass with us, so we all got to cheer Germany on as they won 1-0.  Viva La Germany! 

Skipping Germany’s 7-1 domination of Brazil (poor Neymar) in the Final 4, I’ll fast forward to the finale on Sunday.  Earlier that afternoon we took the dogs to Hirschgarten for their walk, and the beer garden was already full of people – many who were decked out in German colors and already plastered.  As I already established our lameness earlier, and adding the fact that the game started at 9pm, I will readily admit we just stayed home and watched it in our living room.  I was really hoping Germany could just win in regular time so I could get to bed at a reasonable hour, but they decided to stretch it out into extra time.  Finally around 1am Germany scored the only goal of the game, and I was super excited because of the win it was bedtime. 

Only (partly) kidding – I was happy for Germany.  And I couldn’t truly get to sleep for another hour and a half with the fireworks booming (scaring poor Sadie, but what doesn’t?), the people from Hirschgarten screaming, and people driving down the street outside our bedroom honking their horns until 2:30am.  Though I wasn’t angry about that – I mean I am not going to deny these people their celebration for their country’s fantastic win!  In fact I was in awe that so many people had fireworks.  This highlights the wonderful planning of Germans – these people had to prepare 7 months out at New Years.  They stockpiled fireworks back in December for a potential World Cup win.  I was impressed. 

I do have to admit I was a bit disappointed the next day on my way to work.  I felt like barely anyone was continuing their celebration.  I believe if this was USA, and USA loved soccer as much as the rest of the world does, then everyone would be wearing USA clothes or colors or flags, high fiving each other all the way.  Instead I saw a whopping three people with tiny painted flags on their cheeks throughout my entire commute, both to work and home.  What is going on here Germany?  Where is your outspoken pride??   Just one more difference between our cultures I guess - Germans will totally shout and celebrate, but only for a reasonable timeframe.

Overall I do enjoy watching the World Cup, like I enjoy the Olympics.  It is cool to be able to get with your entire country and cheer with pride for your team.  And all those people who think those of us who only watch soccer during the World Cup are somehow ‘lesser than’… I also only watch Gymnastics during the Summer Olympics, and snowboarding during the Winter Olympics, so don’t worry about it.  That is why it is so exciting – because it is only every 4 years.  Though unfortunately here in Europe, there are about 16 different soccer championships every year or two, so I won’t be able to escape it completely until 2018.  

World Cup Adventures

My World Cup adventures began in Rio on the night of Wednesday, June 18^th.   After exiting the plane I immediately heard the “Chi, Chi, Chi….Le, Le, Le!” chants echoing throughout the airport - meaning Chile had just eliminated Spain from the World Cup.  I knew the next week was going to be amazing if fans were celebrating and going crazy at the airport.

I spent the next 8 hours searching out creative ways to pass the time in the airport while waiting for my friend Rakesh to arrive from California.  The airport hotel was full and there weren’t any nice lounges.  Instead I walked the two terminals several times to find the best spot to sleep that also had Wi-Fi connectivity.  Eventually the Chi-Le chants died down and Rakesh arrived to bring our first official day of World Cup madness. 

Other airport sleepers like me

Fuleco the Armadillo (of course)

After picking up our World Cup tickets at the airport ticketing center, we took a taxi to our hotel in the area of Lapa (just a few blocks from central downtown Rio de Janeiro).  We chilled in our neighborhood on the first day, catching some soccer matches and amazing Brazilian food nearby.  It turns out this area of Rio is the place to party and is full of many great bars which are over flooded by thousands and thousands of people at nighttime.  But the long flight combined with some incredible tasting Fejoada (famous rice/beans/sausage slow cooked meal) had us both passed out by 8 p.m.!  

On day two we were ready for some exploring.  We caught a local bus hoping to tour the district of Santa Theresa, which offers neat architecture and great views.  However we quickly realized we did not know what we were doing.  So rather than risk stumbling through the wrong neighborhood, we jumped off the bus when we saw signs up the mountain for the Christ the Redeemer statue.  From there we were able to find a taxi shuttle to deliver us to Paineras station where we could walk the rest of the way up.  There were about 10,000 other people who also had the same idea as us that day, so we spent most of the day in lines and crowds enjoying the views from Jesus high on the mountain. 

Everywhere we went the World Cup spirit was amazing - even our van back down the mountain had an onboard TV to watch the matches!  It took us about 6 hours to see the number one tourist spot in Brazil which meant it was already time to get back and party in Lapa!  We spent the evening enjoying Caipirinhas from street vendors and exploring the party scene around Lapa.   Later we discovered a special Cheetos flavor that was absolutely amazing and had us hooked the rest of our trip - Cheetos Assado Onda Requeijão.  We tried to enter the famous Rio Scenarium club but were greeted instead by at least 1,000 other people (no exaggeration) waiting in line to get in!  We stuck to the madness on the street instead as it filled up with enormous crowds. 

At one point we were peacefully enjoying a beer outdoors at a street bar when the police suddenly swarmed in and caused a lot of commotion.  The bar closed up their tables in a rush and lowered their shutters, which put us in a startled rush back to our hotel while we scoped out what was going on.  Later we heard some demonstrations had turned up a few blocks away and the police were there to squash them out.  Fifteen minutes later it was like nothing happened. 

We spent our third day in Rio at the beaches.  We met Rakesh’s Brazilian friend for breakfast at the Copacabana Fort and enjoyed some great beachside views.  In preparation for the USA match the following day we were waving our USA flag everywhere we went.  His friend works for the city and was even able to catch us on a security camera posing in front of a statue on Copacabana.  We were complete suckers for all the beach souvenirs and within an hour were completely outfitted in Brazil yellow and green and kicking a soccer ball on the beach.  

We watched the day’s soccer matches outside the FIFA fan zone (public viewing area) on the beach and met lots of crazy fans like us.  Even if we weren’t actually making it to any games, the atmosphere along the beach would have made the trip to Brazil worth it.  It was such an awesome time combining the beach atmosphere with a huge celebration and World Cup soccer.  It was always surprising to me how there were thousands of people from all over the world and everyone was just having a good time together.  There was never a moment of violence or fighting that we saw.  

We met some other locals up for dinner and devoured some amazing frozen Acai - it is like the greatest berry smoothie imaginable, though it looks like a pile of poop.  We ended the night there and returned back to our hotel to prepare for our adventure into the jungle starting the next day. 

The following morning we caught an early flight to Manaus in the Amazon - a 4 hour journey northwest across the country.  Our trip got off to a great start when after exiting the plane we were treated to a free cold Budweiser beer and a map of the city.  Talk about customer service.  We arrived smoothly at our hotel and had a few hours to prepare for the USA vs Portugal match.  We enjoyed some views and a quick swim in our rooftop pool before setting out for the game. 

You can see the Amazon River in the background

Our plan to take a taxi was scratched once we heard the announcements of road closures.  So we started walking to the stadium in the hot humid heat with a couple Canadians who decided to tag along with us.  Just by chance, we passed by the hotel where the Portugal team was staying and they were preparing to load up their team bus.  Fans were lined up to get a glimpse of CR7 (Cristiano Ronaldo) himself, but we pushed our way through determined to make it to the stadium.  

We caught a lucky break when a Brazilian family stopped to take a photo with us and offered to drive us closer to the stadium in their pickup truck.  This saved us about 30 minutes of walking in the intense heat.  The atmosphere approaching the stadium was a huge party for the Red, White, and Blue.  USA fans were clearly in the majority and very creatively outfitted.  However, my favorite costume of the day was the kid dressed as CR7’s Panini card. 

His beard was red, white, and blue 

We made it into Arena Amazonas about 30 minutes before the match began and we were seated with a large group of passionate USA fans.  It was an incredible game and we screamed our heads off.  The heat was exhausting and we were witness to the first ever World Cup water break in the second half when players started collapsing on the field.  CR7 was quiet for most of the game, but the second he touched the ball the stadium erupted into an incredible roar of boos and cheers.  Then he made us all cry with the cross to setup the tying goal 30 seconds before match end.  It was a huge disappointment but at least we did not lose.  And as I write this now, I know now a win over Portugal would not have changed the outcome of the group.  The USA match was definitely the highlight of the entire trip for me.  

Last few hours as a 28 year old

The following day (also my 29^th birthday) we went out for an Amazon tour with a group of about 15 other tourists.  We got to hike through the rainforest to different caves and waterfalls while learning about the jungle ecosystem.  It was all quick and short, but an incredible moment to walk through the famous Amazon jungle. 

Walking through the Amazon

After lunch the tour took us to some river waterfalls where you could swim.  The water was a beautiful dark tea color but at the same time very clear.  I took a quick swim but was hesitant to drift to far downstream or stay in the water too long because of all those scary amazon stories you hear (piranhas, anacondas, penis eating bacteria, etc.). 

Lunch in the Amazon

All the wildlife we saw (noise from 15 people probably scared off all other animals)

We arrived back at the hotel for the end of the Brazil vs. Cameroon match.  We watched the city light up in celebration when Brazil won with exploding fireworks, honking horns and vuvuzelas blowing from rooftops.  The city went from silent to party in an instant.  Later that night we went out for a birthday dinner at a Churrascaria (classic fine cuts of beef buffet brought around on skewers).

Sunset from our hotel's roof

The next 48 hours were pretty much a blur and spent mostly traveling between airports.  We checked out of the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the day enjoying the city of Manaus.  We found some cool public viewings for the day’s matches and enjoyed some amazing grilled Tambaqui fish with rice and beans dinner. 

Eventually we made it to the airport for our 4 a.m. flight and slowly made our way back to Rio with a long layover in Brasilia (when we originally booked the flight it was nonstop….).  We locked up our luggage in the Rio airport and set out for our next match: France vs. Ecuador at the famous Maracanã.  It was an amazing atmosphere to watch soccer, although it was a bit of a boring 0-0 result and the match paled in comparison to USA. 

The French fan in the bottom left had a croissant on their hat…. probably stolen from their breakfast.

Afterwards we were back at the airport to fly home.  My schedule flight with TAP was delayed 4 hours, which meant I would definitely miss my connecting flight in Lisbon.  However I really lucked out and was able to switch to a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.  In the end I arrived an hour earlier than expected in Munich and just in time to watch USA vs Germany battle it out with my dearly missed wife.  It never felt so good to be back home.  

At the airport bar rooting for USA amongst the Germans

All in all it was an exhausting seven days of World Cup soccer full of eating incredible Brazilian food, partying with fans from around the world, and too many hours trying to sleep in airports.  But I had more fun on this trip than I anticipated and got to see a bit of the beautiful land of Brazil.  Perhaps the greatest unexpected part was to have the company of people from around the world who were doing exactly as I and roughing their way around a foreign country for the love of the game.