Home, Sweet Home

Well, it took five offers, four negotiations, three contracts, and two scheduled closings, but finally, after four months on the market, I am now officially homeless (and there was much rejoicing  *yeeeeaaaaaa*).  I don't even know what to tell you at this point, I'm just happy it's over with.  That was a pretty big cloud over my head that I don't have to worry about any more.  So three cheers! to the folks who bought it, and a great big THANK YOU to my real estate dude, who kept me sane through this whole thing.  I'll miss the place a bit (not the landscaping), but I wonder how much of that is just 'cause it was my first.

An Afternoon in Bamberg

So as I mentioned, last weekend I decided that the foot was doing well enough that I could venture out and resume my burgeoning exploration of Bavaria.  Besides going back to Nürnberg or München (that's the real name of Munich) there are three places I really want to see, those being Bamberg, Würzberg, and Regensburg.  All three have huge amounts of history, beautiful architecture and are within a short train-ride of Erlangen.  So since Bamberg covered the smallest area, and would therefore entail the least amount of walking, I decided to start there.

The entire town is listed as a UNE$C0 World Heritage Site.  That's right, the whole place.  Not just a cathedral here, or a castle there - the whole, freaking town.  I won't go into the details, but there's lots of info on the town and its history here.  I also didn't get to cover as much of the town as I wanted, as my feet were killing me after only a few hours.  Not just the damaged one, either.  Cobblestone is not enjoyable to walk on.  So I missed a lot, and I'll just have to add this to the list of places to which I need to return.  I didn't even get to go to any of the nine breweries in town, which was obviously disappointing, but especially so since I'd heard some good things about one of the types of beer distinct to this town call rauchbier (smoked beer).

Some of the highlights of the day included Die Altes Rathaus, or town hall, as pictured below, from upstream, downstream, and a side view.

  

This place was built in 1456 in the middle of the river Regnitz on top of a bridge that was built in the 12th century, with the sides of the building painted in the 1700's (both sides are painted, I just didn't get a good shot of the other side).  Really cool place, and one of the best-known landmarks of the town.

Next up was the Bamberg Cathedral.  The original Dom (that's German for Cathedral) was built in 1007, but was destroyed by fire, so this one is only 750 some-odd years old, as it's the replacement (my apologies for the bad pic - I seem to have a knack for getting shots of things with the sun being in the worst possible position).  The tomb pictured below is inside the cathedral and holds the Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and his wife, who were responsible for the town being what it was back in the day.

                   

                  

I've got lots of other pics of inside the Dom, and I'll try and figure some good way to display them all as well.

Next to the Dom is the Neue Residenz, which housed the city's bishops from the 1700's.  The place is huge, and as you can see, the picture doesn't capture the entire thing.  The accompanying pic is of the Residenz' Rose Garden, a very pretty area with a cafe at one end (gotta get those tourist euros).

                  

One of the really cool things about this town is the river.  Very scenic, to the point that one section (as seen below) is called Little Venice.  That might be a tad presumptuous, I don't know (haven't made it to Italy yet), but it is very pretty, and I would love to live in one of the places right on the river.

And lastly, there is one final place that I did not get    to, as it was further up even higher hills than the ones to get to the Dom and the Residenz, but from afar looked very impressive.  That would be the Michalsberg monastery, as seen below.

So that was my day in Bamberg.  Like I said, I really need to go back, if for no other reason than the brauerei, but of course for more than that.  I find myself doing a lot of the same thing I did when I went to Paris last fall, and that's going to a lot of places, but never really going in them.  You can get a lot of good pictures, sure, but you don't really get the feel for a place and what it's all about.  I need to work on that.  It would probably make these a little more interesting for you, as well.

Cars

Okay, so I haven't shared anything for a while, but with the foot, there just wasn't that much going on.  For the next couple of weekends after the incident, I pretty much stayed at home and kept off of it as much as possible.  Turns out that there was nothing torn or broken or anything, really - just strained the tendons or whatever those things are in the foot, and it's just been a matter of time for it to heal.  I'm getting around on it pretty well now, and haven't even needed my unterarmkrücken - crutches, but not your normal crutches: they only extend to the forearms - since last Friday.  Saturday, I ventured up to Bamberg (more on that later), but that was probably pushing it  a bit, as was practicing with the team on Monday night.  I'm still mobile and it's getting better every day, but I need to pace myself a bit.  Hey, go figure - me with a pacing problem.  At least this time, it has nothing to do with alcohol consumption.

But the big thing today is this:

                                 

BOO-YAH!  That's right, I finally got a car today.  Pretty, isn't it?  That's a 2007 ßMW 325i right there, and for the next seven months, that baby's mine!  One of the guys at the office who was supposed to be here for two years had to go back to the States early, and he had leased the above car.  So since he had to go back, I was kind enough to take over the lease so he didn't have to pay for a car that was just sitting on another continent (big of me, wasn't it).  So I've got until January to enjoy it.  Heh-heh.  There will be further musings on the Autobahn (surprisingly, not all it's cracked up to be) but for now, let's just say that on the way home from Nürnberg I easily hit 180 kph (about 115 to you and me).

Have I mentioned that I like this place?

Tschüß

Which of These is Not Like the Other?

So here's a fun story.  I finally got to play in my first baseball game yesterday.  Of course I'm a little nervous, but what do you expect after not playing for twenty-some-odd years.  I just didn't want to screw up in the game and have everyone thinking, 'what the hell do we have this old fart out here playing for?'.  Hell, even the coach of the team is two or three months younger than I am.  But hey, he's playing, too, and the whole point of this league is to have fun.  This isn't one of those over-30 leagues back home where everyone acts like it could be their shot at the Show.  Seriously, that is taking things way over the top.

I was set pretty well for this game, though, so I was feeling good.  My hitting was good during warmups, and while the fielding still probably needs work, it's not any worse than anyone else on the team, and regardless, I was playing right field.  Yes, even in a country that doesn't really play baseball, I get put in the "safe" position where I can do the least amount of harm (S0sa didn't play there for the Cußs for no reason, you know).  

And when the game started, sure enough, someone lined one through the infield in my direction.  I think it was a good thing that it was a sharply hit ball, too, so I didn't really have time to think about it, I just fielded it.  And fielded it cleanly, thank  you very much, which wasn't as easy as it sounds due to the condition of the field.  One of the guys on the team who is from the Dominican, and knows a thing or two about the subject, commented that he'd seen better fields in Third World countries.  I tended to believe him.  So anyway, ball cleanly fielded, I, of course in my excitement proceeded to airmail the cut-off man.  No harm, no foul, though, as there was no one else on base, and there was backup there to keep the runner to a single.

So in the top of the second, it's my turn to bat.  With a righty on the mound I, in all of my switch-hitting glory, decide to turn around and go from the left side.  Now in BP, I had been hitting everything from both sides of the plate.  But I was also aware that I was going for some pitches that I had no business swinging at.  Sure, I could hit them, but there wasn't much on them, and I probably would have been out.  So I was going to make sure that I was waiting for my pitch.  Looked at a couple of balls, mixed in with two fouls, count stands at 2-2.  Wait for it, wait for my pitch.  Yep, I struck out looking.  Now in my defense, this was a strike that even Maddox and Glavine in their hey-day would have been embarrassed to have called a strike, it was so far outside.  But whatever, it was called and I was out.  0 for 1.

In the bottom half of the inning, our pitcher was fantastic and struck out the side, albeit with a little help from the ump - hey, at least he was calling it both ways, that's really all you can ask for.  So I get up to bat the next inning, and I'm thinking, 'okay, this time, don't just look at pitches.  If you can make contact with it, swing.'  Well, I would have no such luck, as this time around, he was nowhere close to the plate.  I might have fouled one back, but that was it.  Ball four, take your base.  Still 0 for 1, but at least my obp is .500.

Now, we'd been running on these guys all day.  The pitcher was incredibly slow to the plate, and the catcher had no gun whatsoever - rainbow city.  Hell, he could have gotten the ball to second faster by using the pitcher as a relay man.  That being said, I'm forty, still pretty much out of shape, and I was never the fastest guy in the world anyway.  Luckily for me, the guy behind me lines the first pitch into left-center, and I'm on second with no problem.  Well, there's a slight problem.  I'm pumped.  I'm excited.  I'm playing the game I love.  I can do this.  I can run on this guy.  He's horrible.  He's got no arm.  Piece of cake.  So with the first pitch, off I go.

Those of you who know me know that I'm kind of a moron.  For those of you who don't - well, I'm kind of a moron.  And unfortunately, I'm not talking about trying to steal, I'm talking about the execution thereof.  And oh, yeah, you guessed it - the catcher with the rag arm nailed my ass by about 1o feet.  There was no way I was safe.  They had me dead to rights.  But what did I do?  I tried to slide.  Very late.  And very badly (I never was very good at it, and that was two decades ago).  Basically, I set my foot against third base to where it couldn't go any further forward and then slammed all of my mumblemumble pounds into said foot in the act of "sliding".  Let's just say... ouch.

To make a long story short (yeah, yeah - too late), I was out of the game and I'm done with baseball for a few weeks.  It's all in my foot, thankfully, and I didn't do anything to my ankle.  The x-rays didn't show any fractures, so we're waiting a few days and then if there's no improvement, I'll have an MRI done.  I have a feeling I did something to the tendons and/or ligaments down there, but what do I know?  I've never done anything like this to myself before, so I have nothing to go on.  There's swelling, but not that much, and the colors you see in the picture didn't even show up until today (game was yesterday).  On the other hand, I don't bruise real easily (even cramming handle bars into my ribs last month on my way to the pavement didn't leave any marks), and yet, there's my foot in all it's glory.

Oh well, at least it gave me something to write about.

Sorry

So I know that I've been pretty unproductive lately, but when I just looked, I realized exactly how unproductive.  Three posts in a month and a half - wow. Yes, I suck, but you pretty much knew that one already.  It's not like I've not been doing anything, either, it's just that I'm having a hard time conveying the experiences in a manner that will do them justice.  I went to Köln [Kuln] - you know it as Cologne - for the evening about a week ago, for instance.  Cool town, tons of history (dating back to Roman times), and beautiful.  But that's all I've got to tell you about it right now - I can't come up with anything better yet.  Sickening.  So I swear, I'll try and get it together shortly.  I'm taking a few days off this week (my furniture is FINALLY arriving - it's only been close to eight f%&@ing weeks), so I'll try and at least update some things.  There's the baseball adventure, the car situation, Bergkirchweih experiences, fußball mania (it's Euro2008 here this month) - just lots of stuff going on.  So once again, pardon me.  I'm sorry.  Deepest apologies.  And I'll be back later, I swear.

Tschüß [chooss]

Apple Pie and Stuff

So thanks partly in fact to the fact that I don't really know hardly anyone around here yet (awwww... poor wittle Shteevie), I haven't gotten too homesick yet.  I know, it doesn't make any sense, but stay with me here - it will eventually.  I say that because I really haven't done that much of anything (and when I have, it's been fun), so when I'm not out somewhere, I'm sitting in my empty apartment with nothing to do besides surf the net or watch the one or two DVDs that I brought with me on the plane (my stuff apparently arrived in port today, so I may actually have furniture and more than a week's worth of clothes within a ten days or so - yea!!!). Therefore, it's a little piece of home, and I'm okay.

But deep down there must be some bigger yearning.  I say this because I was riding my torture machine home and I heard a sound that would normally make my skin crawl.  *tink*  But this time it was different.  *tink*  This time there was excitement.  *tink*  This time there was the sudden feeling of finding a long-lost treasure.  Yes, what I was hearing was a ball being hit by an aluminum bat.  *tink*  Now, like I said, normally that sound just makes me cringe.  It's not natural.  It doesn't belong with the game.  The game is meant to be played with wooden bats, not metal.  Besides the sound of a well-struck golf shot, and maybe the sound a bottle of Turk3y makes when it's opened for the first time, there's nothing quite like the sound of a wooden bat connecting with a baseball.  Pure magic.  

So when I got to where the sound was coming from, lo and behold, I find baseball being played.  Turns out that there is actually baseball in this town.  There is a local club team that has two different levels, plays games every weekend and practices twice a week.  And come the day after tomorrow, I'll be playing on one of those teams.  Now I know what you're thinking.  Comedy and baseball rarely mix, and while this will probably result in high hilarity if you like train wrecks, it won't be one of those time where the comedy works.  But dammit, I'm going to try.  

I might even be able to get away with it.  I'm going to be playing on the lower level team, which is the one for just having fun and enjoying the game.  And there's only three other American players on the team, so the fact that I grew up with the game may actually make up for the fact that I'm old and out of shape (torture machine not-withstanding).  It's like the language, except backwards - I'm fluent in baseball, so I don't have to think about what I'm doing, I can just do it.  And who knows - with a season of no pressure under my belt, I might even be able to move up to the 'good' team next year.

Random Thoughts

• So on the heels of my thinking, "Okay, now that I've gotten used to it somewhat, this bike thing isn't that bad", well of course I had my first mishap.  I guess it had to happen sometime, and it could have been much worse, but last night I hit the pavement for the first time.  I was on a little side street trying to find an address for a first aid class that you have to take in order to get your driver's license (and if you're going to be here for over six months, you have to get one) and I was ten minutes late to boot, so I was pretty frustrated at this point.  I had a little post-it note in my hand and was looking at the addresses on buildings, when a car turned onto the street ahead of me.  Now, I was in no danger of being hit whatsoever.  But unconsciously, with the one hand I had on the handle bars, I turned sharply and gripped the brakes.  The problem?  The hand I had on the handles was on the front brake side.  Yep, over the front I went.  Like I said, it wasn't that bad, but I've got a bruise on one side of my ribs that's pretty sore, and I ripped a pretty cool shirt that I had just bought within the last week or so.  No real damage to the bike, thankfully, considering how much I paid for that sob, but it still sucked.  Hopefully, I've got that out of the way now.

• I've noticed that dogs are extremely well-behaved over here.  A lot of the time, a person's dog will just be following along-side their owner without  a leash, and you can tell that there's not a chance that it's going to run off somewhere chasing whatever it's seen.  This morning I was sitting outside a cafe getting breakfast and a lady walked in with her dog behind her.  They asked her to leave the dog outside (now, that's not a given - had lunch yesterday at a table next to a lady with her dog inside the place - still very well-behaved, but inside none the less).  So she led her dog back outside, told it to lie down under a table next to the door, went inside, and the dog - well, he just laid there.  Now I was at the table right next to the dog, with a plate full of food, and he acted like he didn't know I was there.  I guess the best way I can think to explain it is that the dogs here are all just like seeing-eye dogs as far as their demeanor.  Very calm, very well-trained.

• The drink situation here just befuddles me (yes, I said befuddled - get over it).  As I've said, it's like they don't really trust the water that comes out of the taps, but at the same time they will swear to the quality of their water treatment system.  So in restaurants, they just don't do glasses of water.  If you do order water, it'll be bottled water (quick side note - I was wrong on the term for non-soda water.  The correct term is 'ohne kohlensaure', without bubbles; mit, ohne - with, without; pretty easy, really, if I'd actually bother to study the freaking language).  And it won't be cheap.  In fact, it seems that it costs the same if want juices, sodas, water, whatever - including beer.  For a half-liter bottle of any of them, it's around €3.20.  Yep, five bucks just for the drink.  So you can understand why I've been drinking a lot of beer - might as well, right?  Now, this is only in restaurants - in the grocery stores and Getränkte Märkten ([ge-train-ke mairk-ten] drink markets - like beer stores, but with soft drinks and juices as well) they are actually very reasonably priced.  Of course, now that I think about it, the prices in the restaurants also include the 19% VAT (value-added tax) and service.  On the other hand, so does the food, and the Mexican buffet I went to yesterday was only €5.90.  Like I said, befuddled.