Thursday, September 28, 2006

hello, hello...

....i'm at a place called vertigo!

(btw, i always thought the lyric was "hello, hello... may i please have vertigo" -- which, when you think about it, makes absolutely no sense but i guess that's what happens when singers don't enunciate properly. silly bono. trix are for kids. and yellow sunglasses look really bad on you, dude.)

apparently, when you take one dazed and confused traveler, throw her on the road for a wk and make her sit in a windowless conference on a rocking cruise ship for hours on end, you end up with some serious vertigo.

the room spins. i still feel the motion of the cruise ship when standing still. my ears buzz, and i have trouble walking in a straight line. concentrating is difficult and headaches are frequent.

if it didn't suck so badly, it would be kinda funny.

so yes. i am back in austin. the austin to miami and back to austin for five hours to pack for vancouver and then board a cruise ship for LA only to disembark and fly back to austin marathon is over. i am tired and dizzy and stressed out and oh, officially addicted to the crack that is known as a blackberry (especially brickbreaker. holy crap. how was my life ever complete before brickbreaker? it's almost as good as that icebreaker game. carpal tunnel syndrome be damned, i must beat my high score).

also, i just had my six-month anniversary in austin. my how time flies. it made me all pensive and reflective and since i am too dizzy to write a really well thought-out post about all things austin, i leave you instead with an outline of the things i would have written abut:

I. there are a lot of things that i like about austin
  • austin is very laid-back and chill
  • austin feels very safe. terrorism? what? crime? huh?
  • people in austin are genuinely friendly (not in an annoying way) and very easy-going
  • i have a kick-ass apt
  • breakfast tacos
  • cost of living, short commute
  • very pretty city with lots of active people
  • i can stroll into the airport right before a flight and breeze through security
  • people are committed to the environment and to local businesses. i like that.
II. i am very glad i moved here
  • i've learned a lot about myself
  • i've taken some pretty sweet biz trips (what's up munich and vancouver)
  • i learned how many things i take for granted
  • i'm glad i got to experience life in a diff city
II. yet i still miss the city sometimes
  • i miss the energy and pace of a bigger city
  • i miss the diversity of a bigger city - seeing diff people, hearing diff languages
  • i miss really good ethnic food that is not tex-mex
  • i have a feeling i will really miss having seasons
  • i feel like i live in this really idealistic bubble that is disconnected from the real world
  • there's a lot of creative energy, but very little art
III. things that piss me off
  • i've met lots of fun ppl to hang out with but few that are truly quality
  • i hate being really far from family and good old friends
  • i hate the baggage claim at austin airport. rage. hate. seeeeeethe.
  • texas drivers. again, rage. hate. seeeethe.
[insert nice closing thoughts here]

Sunday, September 24, 2006

i heart vancouver

coming to you live from the heart of vancouver, where i am holed up in a 24-hour internet cafe in downtown vancouver with a bunch of gamers playing WoW and whatever that war game is (someone help me out here). it's owned by a pair of korean dudes, one who has gravity-defying hair and another who is rocking some seriously awesome plastic glasses.

so here i am. it was a bit of a headache to get out of austin (the best word that comes to mind is "clusterfuck" -- sorry mom), because i didn't get home from miami until after midnight (someone pls explain to me how an airport as small as austin can be so INCREDIBLY slow about baggage claim. if you're not that big of an airport, shouldn't it be that much faster to retrieve your bags once you've landed? makes absolutely no sense to me), at which point i had to unpack, eat, and then re-pack for the next trip. after about three hours of fitful sleep, i woke up at 6 am and took a taxi to the austin airport only to be confronted with the LONGEST LINE i have ever seen in my six months of frequent visits to austin bergstrom international airport. it seriously took almost an hour to get my boarding pass... damn american airlines and international travel that won't let you check in at the kiosks (shouldn't canada pretty much count as domestic travel anyway?! boo). no need to rush, though, b/c once we made it to dallas we ended up sitting around for over two hours waiting for some crazy-ass storms to pass so we could actually take off (thankfully the waiting took place in the terminal, not on the tarmac). the flight to vancouver was relatively uneventful aside from my four trips to the bathroom to pee (that is just not right) and the eye soreness i experienced after multiple rounds of brickbreaker (blackberry game -- have a suspicious feeling that it is almost as addicting as crack, although this is not a suspicion i plan on confirming at any point in the near future).

once i got into vancouver, it took me almost two hours to get through customs (who'da thunk the canucks take border security so damn seriously), and when combined with the delay out of dallas, i ended up having much less time in vancouver than i'd hoped. the good news it that the afternoon did not fail to disappoint. this is an inCREDible city, people. earlier, as our plane had descended from our 35,000 ft cruising altitude, i had been treated to breath-taking views of vancouver's sparkling skylines, snow-capped mountains, and twinkling blue water, and i was eager to check out the view on-land. once out of the crazy customs line and after a quick trip to the currency exchange for some canadian dollars, i took a taxi to my fancy best western hotel (hey, i'm staying on my own dime tonight), marvelling throughout the ride at the crisp clean air and interesting-looking buildings.

vancouver reminds me of san francisco in a lot of ways, yet it manages to make a really unique impression at the same time. it seems to be an incredibly diverse population -- i hear a ton of languages being spoken, although east and south asian people seem to be the majority. people seem pretty content doing their own thing (i've seen some interesting fashions), and it offers a lot of things that i miss seeing in austin (inter-racial couples for one, minimal frat boys & sorostitutes for another). it's supposedly an incredibly active city (much like austin), and the art scene is amazing (i bought some awesome stuff today -- two incredibly intricate/delicate chinese paper cuttings and an awesome aboriginal-esque print). the weather is crisp and clean, and although the downtown is filled with towering skylines, you never have to venture to find some sparkling blue water and towering mountain tops. i've also never seen more good-looking asian men than i've seen in my entire life... maybe that washington post article should have focused their efforts on vancouver instead?

anyway, i didn't end up "doing" much what with my decreased time in the city, but enjoyed the day nonetheless. after a quick shower in the somewhat-ghetto (oh well) best western and a delicious falafel sandwich from a shop near the hotel, i wandered around trying to get my bearings and ended up on robson street for a while (major shopping area -- felt very much like georgetown). a few lush purchases later, i wandered down to the waterfront to stare at the huge-ass cruise ships (i'll be boarding one of those tmw) and eventually made my way down to gastown, the historic part of vancouver, where i purchased the awesome aboriginal art and watched the gastown steam-powered clock do its thing (verdict: underwhelming). i then made my way over to chinatown, b/c i had heard that the chinese food in vancouver rivalled that of san francisco... and since austin isn't exactly all that impressive when it comes to delicious ethnic food that isn't tex-mex and the weather had gotten even crisper with the setting of the sun, a bowl of hong kong noodle soup with shrimp dumplings sounded like just what the doctor ordered.

but alas, pretty much all of chinatown was shut down and boarded up and i soon figured out that chinatown isn't exactly the best part of town to be in after dark... not that i'm paranoid, but i've been in enough cities, both american and non, to pick up on the signals. when every single shop is closed and boarded up by 8 pm, every alley is packed with homeless people picking through garbage dumps and every corner has questionable-looking characters conducting questionable-sounding whispered conversations, it's time to get the hell out of dodge and consult your big map in the safety of a well-lit taxi. i ended up going to yaletown, which is a formerly industrial part of town that has been re-done to be more of a yuppie-ish neighborhood with tons of restaurants and loft apts as well as cute-looking shops and lots of bars/clubs (sort of old town alexandria-ish but more diverse). i ended up at a thai restaurant (another food i've missed while living in austin), where i had some delicious green chicken curry and a refreshing glass of white wine... but... someone explain this to me... i had to eat it with a fork b/c they didn't have any chopsticks.

...

anyway, this post is getting ridiculously long to the point where i feel like none of you will read down this far so i will end here. tmw i hope to see more of the city's famous parks and get out of the immediate downtown area... and then it's onto the ship and into meetings i go (hi-ho, hi-ho). i will leave you with one last thought. vancouver a) has breath-taking scenery, b) is close to world-class skiing (whistler et. al.), c) has awesome shopping and an incredible art scene, d) is supposedly a very active city with tons of biking/jogging trails, e) is incredibly diverse and has the delicious restaurants to prove it, f) has a reputation for being very tolerant and liberal, and g) supposedly has a good music scene as well...

hmmm...

HMM, i tell you.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

ACL 101

this past wknd i experienced my very first ACL festival here in austin. the city was complete madness, much like it was back in march when i moved here during SXSW. throngs of people (mostly musicians were who were rocking the trendy grunge look with their legions of devoted and equally grungy-looking fans). true to jennifer form, i had waited until the very last minute to decide whether or not i wanted to go, finally buying a 3-day pass from a co-worker on the first day of the festival (friday).

and so i went, nalgene bottle surreptitiously stashed at the bottom of my backpack beneath my folded blanket and printed-out band schedule in-hand. day #1 was my favorite line-up by far. although an unexpectedly stressful day at work caused me to miss both guster (supposedly they played both "4, 3, 2, 1...." and "either waaaa-yyyyeeeee") and gnarls barkley, i was able to catch a bit of thievery corporation, ray lamontagne (amazing despite his strong resemblance to jesus christ. i was sincerely concerned that his large beard may have been harboring small animals and/or decomposing food items), john mayer (am not a fan of the floppy hair), and van morrison (they totally played brown-eyed girl). i had made the wise decision to go in the not-nearly-as-sweltering evening-time, and i have to say that it was quite nice to sit there in the warm, breezy evening with a great view of the downtown austin skyline.

day #2 was a somewhat less-inspired line-up, but i still had a good time. i saw a band called iron & wine (more jesus-esque beards) and then a lot of willie nelson (who was surprisingly awesome. he is a total bad-ass for his age. and endearingly funny onstage). sunday i pretty much punked out b/c the weather was crappy and i was tired, so i missed out on the main closing act (tom petty) as well as damien marley (who i legitimatedly wanted to see, but he was on at 2:30 in the afternoon -- hottest part of the day).

what was most surprising was how... well-behaved everyone was. sure, people were stepping over each other and almost everyone was drinking, but people were relatively polite and the event itself was very well-organized and civil without being obnoxiously so. i guess that's the laid-back austin vibe for you?

so, for any of you who may be interested in attending ACL at any time in the future, here are my key lessons learned:
1) go in the evening. you will avoid the sweaty masses melting underneath the fierce texas sun and you will be able to last much longer.
2) ride your bike. walking for 40 minutes in huge crowds of people is not fun, and waiting in long shuttle lines is even worse. riding your bike gets you in and out of the festival efficiently and faster than those lame walkers.
3) buy the 3-day pass. this means you can come and go at your leisure instead of being stuck in the grounds the entire time.
4) bring a chair and/or blanket. my $5 collapsible chair was quite effective in keeping me both comfortable and off the ground.

with those pearls of wisdom i leave you all for a week-long business trip. auf wiedersehn!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

some bush on bush action

that's quite the title for a post, no?

this video is hilariously funny and clever, and yet.... so depressing

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

in which i distract you with pretty pictures

sooooo, as you've probably noticed, i haven't had been posting much of anything lately. apologies to all three of you who read this blog with any semblance of regularity. you haven't missed too much -- i pretty much got back from germany, was exhausted, my parents came to austin to visit me, we hung out all wknd, was exhausted, i got some pretty new bed linens, we drove to dallas, was exhausted, finally got back into training mode for my little 5k, was exhausted, have been forced to sit through endless training sessions at work, oh, and i've been relatively useless at work all wk. ta-da, end of story. notice a recurring theme in there?

anyway, to distract you from the noticeable dearth of brilliant writing, here are a few pics from my trip to munich:















schloss neuschwanstein in all its picturesque glory (pic taken from a bridge over a gorge)
















enjoying the beer garden life at the chinese pagoda beer garden (notice that my stein is noticeably smaller. in retrospect, i feel like a bit of a wuss)
















the famous "onion domes" of munich's frauenkirche at night. the colors are almost a bit freaky. is it sacrilegious to say that?





















and, last but not least, the old town hall in the historic part of downtown munich

Friday, September 08, 2006

counterpoint

a recent wash post article about the mysterious appeal of korean men in the asian community is causing quite the stir. in this post i will give you an informal review of the most salient points.

the paragraph that amused me the most was this one:

"Entertainment industry leaders in Seoul credit the phenomenon to good marketing coupled with an uncanny response throughout Asia to the expressive nature of the South Koreans -- long dubbed the Italians of Asia. A hearty diet and two years of forced military duty, industry leaders and fans insist, have also made young South Korean men among the buffest in Asia. Most important, however, has been the South Korean entertainment industry's perfection of the strong, silent type on screen -- typically rich, kind men with coincidentally striking looks and a tendency to shower women with unconditional love."

yes, they are the italians of asia because they are all momma's boys and expect their wives to serve them. the secret behind their "strong, silent type" persona is simple -- there ain't much goin' on beneath that strong, silent facade, so it's either stoic silence or uninteresting conversation. you pick what you want to believe. and buff korean men?! really?! maybe they're all hiding in the motherland, but as a korean female who missed out on the 5'2"-size-zero body type, i must say that the buff korean men are quite few and far between, at least around these here parts (well, koreans in general are fairly rare around these here parts, except when patronizing the local karaoke joints).

the best part was when the single japanese woman who was featured in the article finally got to meet her korean blind date, and he "turned out to be a slightly paunchy Korean computer programmer."

now that's more like it, no?

(side note: i am mostly joking and must note that i have actually never had a korean boyfriend, so you must take my kidding with a grain of salt. i have, however, known many korean males in my lifetime and found the article to be extremely amusing.)

rollin on the floor fo' shizzle

if you haven't heard about the gizoogle site you HAVE to check it out. it is freaking hiLArious.

you can enter words, like "BMW" or "texas," or you can enter entire URLs and have it translate the web page.

for instance. here is the gizoogled version of my blog. it is insanely hilarious.

this is my favorite line: "straight trippin' ta you live frizzay tha front lobby of tha shawty hostel i'm steppin' in (i had bizzle stay'n in a bigga hotel when mah crazy ass nigga was here but since he's gone it's onto tha cheapo places fo` me and cant no hood fuck with death rizzow. i'm just a lowly blunt-rollin' exec, not some pimp banka)."

i need new biz cards that say "jennifer kim, lowly blunt-rollin' exec, not some pimp banka." btw, note that "mah crazy ass nigga" = my brother.

Monday, September 04, 2006

"it's a small world after all..."

a quick update, b/c it's fairly late on mon night and i need to meet my boss tmw morning for breakfast before we attend our briefing meetings. today was a fantastic day. i got up extremely early (well, 7:40 - earliest i've gotten up so far on this trip) so i could shower, eat, and check out of my hostel before heading to the train station for my trip to....

schloss neuschwanstein!!

for those of you who've never heard of this castle, you'd probably still recognize pictures of it -- it was the inspiration for sleeping beauty's castle in disney world and is one of the most famous castles in the entire world. read more about it on the wiki.

it was about two-hour train ride out to the city of fussen, which is the base for exploring the castles (neuschwanstein is right next to another famous castle, hohenschwangau, which was built by ludwig II's father). i sat next to an aussie girl named natasha, who was on a five-month post-university trek through europe before resigning herself to finding an engineering job (why is this so common in countries like australia and the UK but so much harder to find in america?) in melbourne. we americans have it so wrong. every time i go abroad i wonder why i don't spend more time out there. there's a whole big world -- why stay in my one little corner all the time?

anyway, the ride was amazing -- the weather was absolutely incredible (again), and the german country scenery was ridiculously picturesque and serene. even the cows seemed different -- they wore real cowbells and seemed more placid than those feisty american heifers (hehe). once we arrived in fussen, we had to take another bus to the town in order to begin our trek. and what a trek it was! the tour guide had said there would be some uphill climbing, which was the understatement of the century. we had a major uphill hike up the mountain and we were all dripping with sweat by the time we got up to the top. it was worth it, though -- we had gone to "mary's bridge," a small iron bridge suspended over a towering gorge that gives you an amazing dead-on view of the castle in all of its splendor. the backdrop of tiny red-roofed houses and blue, blue lakes and huge mountains seemed almost fake, they were so perfect and beautiful. i took about ten million pics, none of which seemed to do the castle justice.

we eventually went inside and toured through the castle. now, i've seen a lot of european castles and it's kind of like eh, once you've seen one castle you've seen them all, which is kind of true. this one, though, had a lot of odd things which befitted all of the odd legends that surround Ludwig II (he was in love with wagner and themed a lot of his rooms after wagnerian opera settings, he only made one toilet in the entire castle, he liked to dine alone but pretend that he was having dinner with louis XIV, so he would have his servants set an extra place for louis XIV) and was completely worth the trip. my favorite part: the tour ended in the souvenir shop, which you had to go through in order to exit. they also don't allow you to take any photographs inside the castle walls, thus encouraging you to purchase postcards so you can remember what you saw. if that isn't american/disney-esque, i don't know what is...

the hike back down the mountain was a lot easier but just as breath-taking, b/c most of the hike was down a small iron pathway that had been built into the stone and passed over the gorge and tons of crystal-clear, ice-cold mountain water. it was truly awesome. then it was back on the train for the two-hour ride back to munich (i was asleep for most of it), back to the hostel to collect my luggage, and off to the work hotel for a quick shower and dinner w/my boss.

tmw's installment: i (finally) do some work! stay tuned...

Sunday, September 03, 2006

more adventures in deutschland

coming to you live from the front lobby of the little hostel i'm staying in (i had been staying in a bigger hotel when my brother was here but since he's gone it's onto the cheapo places for me. i'm just a lowly advertising exec, not some high-roller banker). i don't mind, though -- i have stayed in a bunch of hostels in my various travels and love the charm, the adventurous spirit, the feeling of we're-all-taking-this-great-big-trip-of-life-together. plus there's free wireless internet, i have a private room/bathroom, and my bill for one night is going to be less than $80... what's not to like?

so, where did i leave off? the bro got in super late on fri night (12:45?) and we were both starving, so we set off to find something that was still open in our little neighborhood. we ended up at this hilarious, super-authentic little neighborhood joint with fantastic bavarian food (i had some delicious french onion soup, a huge pretzel, some pork chops and a beer, of course) and endless 80s tunes (seriously -- we ate our dinner to the sounds of "karma karma karma karma karma chameeeeeloonnnnn," "we are young! heartache to heartache" etc).

saturday was mostly spent roaming around the aldstadt again, but this time we actually went into a lot of the buildings. we began the day with a bratwurst sandwich brunch (heavy on the mustard and sauerkraut, please) and headed over to a few famous spots (the "onion-domed" frauenkirche, the royal residences, a castle called schloss nymphenburg). the frauenkirche had a huge tower you could climb up and we were rewarded with an amazing view of the city sprawled out below us with the snow-capped alps looming in the distance. it was absolutely beautiful... there's something about having city with towering spires and unique buildings, lush greenery and huge parks, water in any form, and mountains all in one view that always gets to me. anyway, after all that sight-seeing we went over to the english gardens (largest urban garden in europe) for a HUGE stein o' beer and some AWESOME roast chicken in munich's oldest beer garden. the area was amazing... TON of tables surrounding a chinese pagoda-style building that was built back in 1791 and an atmosphere that is simultaneously relaxing and fun (perhaps it was the sounds of the lederhosen-wearing oompah band?).

a nap was in order before the night could begin, so we went back to the hotel for a spot of r&r. feeling refreshed, we were hungry again (of course) and were craving... of all things... sushi (all that meat/pretzels/beer will do that to you, seriously). we ended up scoping out this really decent sushi place and then hit a bar that was supposed to have the best cocktails in munich. they were having a special summer festival where they opened up an outside bar in the hofgarten (royal gardens) behind their space, which was awesome. i've been to a lot of bars in my life, but there is nothing like drinking champagne cocktails in the cool grasses where kings and queens once strolled. it was super chic but also just chill and fun. we ended up hanging out with these musicians all night (a soul singer from the UK and his band) who were really friendly and cool and really talented as well (they were doing a bit of jamming and we looked them up online when we got back to the hotel that night). i found myself envying their touring-europe-musician life... what a way to live, no?

between hearing the velvety voice of the lead singer, bonding with the fedora-sporting drummer over our love of that erykah badu song "love of my life", and asking the guitarist what it was like to play with natalie merchant, we ended up staying out past 3 am, so sunday morning was a flurry of sleeping in, packing, and checking out of the hotel. we had one last bavarian meal on the marienplatz* before my brother had to go to the airport, and then i was on my own. today was fun, though. i checked into my little hostel around 2:20 pm and then rented a bike for the afternoon. it was awesome -- i was able to get out of the subways and explore beyond the bounds of the old city and tooled around the neighborhoods of munich all afternoon. i got lost about a million times (i'm very good at asking where things are in german, btw... "vo ist ____, bitte? danke!"), but still managed to see a lot. i spent some time in munich's most famous museums (how is a pile of rocks scattered on a floor "art?" maybe i am just a philistine? maybe i am just dumb?), had some delicious quiche at a little sidewalk cafe in a neighborhood that reminded me a lot of georgetown, found a huge street festival PACKED with people and all kinds of random bands (one that sounded like green day and one with three women trying to sound like a motown group or smthg -- very strange). i also went to the site of oktoberfest and cannot even imagine the craziness that must ensue there.

and there you have it. if you made it down this far, you are fully up-to-date on my munich adventures so far. the plan for tmw is to take a day trip to the famous schloss neuschwanstein, the bavarian castle built in the late 1800s that was the inspiration for the disney castle and is the most famous castle in the entire world. then it's check into the paid-for-by-work hotel and prep for tuesday's meetings.

one last story for you all before i leave: part of the issue with renting a bike was that i had a fairly large shoulder bag and there was no little basket to put it in. i came up with the ingenious solution to put one strap over each shoulder and wear the shoulder bag like a backpack so i could concentrate on not crashing the bike into some unsuspecting german. genius, no? indeed. i was so proud. yet as i was riding away from my museum visits i felt a strange wet, sticky feeling on my lower back and quickly pulled over to investigate what was going on. LESSON LEARNED: brilliant plan is not so brilliant when you've neglected to screw the cap on all the way on your coca-cola light, causing said soda to leak all over the (new) bag (bought to replace stupid ripped bag) and then out onto my back (coke-stained underwear is NOT a good look). i almost cried b/c it got onto my beloved digital camera, but it looks like the camera has survived and the only victims of The Great Munich Coke Leak were my underwear and the shirts i was wearing. sweet.

*main plaza in front of the famous old town hall - there was this anti-meat-eating demonstration there on saturday complete with pics of slaughtered animals - not a good thing when you're feasting on half of a roasted duck for lunch

Friday, September 01, 2006

munich day aints (one)

greetings from deutschland, where the weather is absolutely inCREDIBLE and i am in that lovely haze known as first day jet-lag. the trip here was one of the smoothest trips i've had in a long time. i've written on here before concerning my gripes about living in austin, at least from a travel sense -- small airplanes, little jets, connecting flights, layovers, crappy airplanes, etc, etc, etc -- all the details that go along with living in a relatively small air market.

what a change it was, then, to fly here on lufthansa international business class. i've been fortunate enough to fly international business/first class before, but only a few occasions, all of which were a long time ago. i know it probably pales in comparison to the old days, but holy crap, i could really get used to that kind of treatment. huge leather seat/bed, personal video/gaming/internet system, decent food, super-attentive staff, priority boarding, the whole nine yards. there were a pair of brothers heading to italy that were sitting across the aisle from me, and it turns out that one of the brothers is going to be a recurring extra on the new season of ER. the other brother wasn't so shabby himself, having just landed a new job as a designer for apple, working in the ipod division.

anyway, i arrived in munich around 8 am local time (about 1 am austin time) to a brilliantly sunny and crisp day. i took a ridiculously expensive ride to our hotel in the most pimped-out taxi i've ever seen. the fact that it was a mercedes didn't completely bowl me over (i remember riding in a lot of bmw/mercedes taxis in austria as well) but it was seriously the most luxurious mercedes i've ever seen. buttery leather seats in a black/cream dual tone, chrome highlights, sparkling clean, etc.

the hotel was kind enough to let me check in REALLY early (i arrived around 9:10 and was in my room by 9:45 am... not bad considering check-in time is noon). the plan was to take a quick nap and then hit the town, but the "quick nap" ended up being a 5.5 hour snooze-fest... oh well, i guess i was tired. showered, figured out the subway deal and headed into the aldstadt ("old city" -- historic part of downtown with a lot of important buildings) to see what i could see.

the old city of munich is similar to all the old european cities i've been in... little alleyways like the barri gotic in barcelona and venice, plazas like italy, churches and castles and ornate buildings everywhere you look, and of course, chic little shops and cafes and charm around every corner (and H&M... i definitely bought a few things there. hehe). plus colorful building facades, tons of window boxes with bright geraniums, and live classical music everywhere (similar to salzburg). i saw the famous glockenspiel in the old town hall where the little characters play music and dance creakily, towering cathedrals, and tons of beer halls. i ate a delicious bratwurst sandwich with mustard for lunch and a large glass of radler (beer mixed with lemonade) with some potato soup for dinner. i went to the hofgarten (royal gardens) and sat in the grass, soaking up the warm sun while listening to live classical music coming from the diana temple.

and then it was back to the hotel around 11 pm to wait for my brother to arrive. out for a late dinner and now time for sleep!

auf wiedersehn (darling, like heidi klum says OMG DID YOU WATCH LAST WEDNESDAY angela's outfit was absolutely ridiculous).