It’s no secret that I am not a Trump fan. I was pretty glad to hear that he was convicted on all 34 counts of his hush money trial on Thursday. I am delighted that New Yorkers are holding him accountable for his many crimes.
I spent a good portion of May making parody songs/satire on YouTube. I did so because it’s fun for me, but also because it helps me cope and process. I’m proud to report that several of my joke songs are pretty popular, even though I’ve also had to deal with a lot of trolls.
Anyway, since there was a scheduled wine stand last night, Bill and I decided to attend. We didn’t bring Noyzi with us, probably because we didn’t think we’d hang out there for long. The weather has gone back to being cool and cloudy. I even brought a sweater, because it was kind of chilly. It was crazy weather for the last day of May, even for Germany.
Bill and I enjoyed a few glasses of local wine and I took a few photos. We noticed that the local kita (kindergarten) is looking for help. I thought it was funny that they used Uncle Sam on their advert. They had sausage, pretzels, and Spundekäs, which is a local delicacy I’ve written about on this blog. In retrospect, we probably should have had some. It would have spared me this morning’s hangover.
Uncle Sam is everywhere!I sang the Road Runner theme song to get this smile.
At one point, a little boy came over and started talking to us. Bill finally had to explain to him (in German) that we’re English speakers. I wish we could have chatted more with him. He was a cute kid who reminded me of Bill’s eldest grandson.
We do have a trip booked for next weekend. Friday afternoon, we’re flying to Sofia, Bulgaria for a long weekend. We did a Champagne bucket draw to make our decision. Originally, Dubrovnik won, but I was worried about it being totally overrun with tourists at this time of year. So we did another draw, and Sofia won. Bill and I have both already been there. I went in 1996, traveling by bus and crashing on the floor at a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer’s apartment, and Bill went for work in 2008. When Bill went, he didn’t have a chance to see much. I saw a lot, but that was 28 years ago, and things have evolved since then. We’re also upgrading our travel modes and lodging.
I expect we’ll have a good time… and then, it’ll be time for me to encounter the German healthcare system, at long last. I dread it, but maybe the doctor can help me feel better, so I can continue to fight the MAGA loving trolls who just want me to shut up and color. We don’t have any plans for my 52nd birthday… but maybe we’ll have a new dog by then. We’ll see.
As for Trump… I’m sure he’ll still be in appeals of this case when he finally kicks the bucket. It’s just amazing that some people finally held him accountable for something. So that, alone, is reason enough for me to smile through the pain.
Although the weather warmed up a lot this week, we had a pretty nasty storm on Thursday night that cooled everything down again. I wasn’t sure if Bill and I were going to want to go to the wine stand last night, because the weather was still kind of iffy. But, as the afternoon wore on, the temperature went up, and the sun sort of peeked out again. Bill and I decided at the last minute that Noyzi would be joining us at the wine stand.
I know a lot of Americans have a hard time grasping why anyone would want to take their dog anywhere public. Or, at least that’s the impression I got on a recent social media post, during which I got shamed for admitting that we take Noyzi out sometimes. Here in Germany, it’s a normal thing to take your dog with you, especially if the event is outdoors. Noyzi does get nervous in new situations, but it’s good for him to be exposed to other people, dogs, sights, and sounds. It helps him become a better canine citizen.
Besides, he’s a great ice breaker. Germans seem to love him. And really, what is NOT to love about this dog? He’s very charming in every way. 😉 And he’s obviously very comfortable in this environment, especially when he’s in his bed.
Before we went to the wine stand, Noyzi took a very deep nap… An hour later, he was up, and we took our walk past the crazy creek! Lots of rain has made it run very high.
We got the wine stand at a little bit past six o’clock. At first, Noyzi was a bit nervous. He hasn’t been in public in awhile. They also just added a book schrank to the Dorfplatz, which he had never seen before. When a boy opened it to retrieve a book, Noyzi was very startled by the sound and the sight. Bill took him over to check it out, and after that, it wasn’t so scary to him anymore.
After about 45 minutes or so, a couple of locals came over to say hello to Noyzi. He was a little timid at first, but quickly warmed up. It’s amazing to see how much he really loves people and wants to be friendly. There was a time when he was petrified of men. Now, after the briefest hesitation, he wags his tail and eagerly says hello. He also loves Bill now, and begs him for belly rubs every night when Bill comes home from work. I’m still the queen bee, though, and he listens to me a lot better than he does Bill.
I got a few photos of last night’s festivities. They aren’t super exciting shots, but we did have a really good time. Breckenheim is such a friendly town, and people are very social. That’s probably why the photos aren’t that exciting. We were too busy chatting.
Noyzi was shedding even more than usual last night, so he got a bath this morning. I don’t know what we’ll do today. The weather is a bit overcast, but it’s not super hot outside. Maybe we’ll go to a Biergarten or something. Noyzi would love that.
We ran into our neighbor on the way home. She’d asked me earlier if I’d ever heard of a Texas seasoning sauce called Dale’s. I hadn’t… but I said I’d asked Bill. When I found it listed on Amazon, I decided to order some. I told her we’d hook her up. It’s a good way to keep neighbor relations healthy. She mostly talks to us when she wants American products… but as long as it keeps the peace, it’s not a big deal.
Some of you might know that I sometimes make YouTube videos. Most of them are musical in nature. Some are snippets of things I catch while I travel and put on this blog.
Today, I decided to make a video of some of the beautiful places we’ve been over the past 12 years or so. I recorded two songs to go with it. I think it’s a nice video– it’s a change of pace, and occupied most of my morning. I hope some folks will check it out. This video is also shared on my main blog, although the post itself is kind of different.
Yesterday, Bill and I decided where we will be visiting next. Bill’s mom, Parker, is coming to visit us during the first full week of February. As is our habit, we are taking her on a short trip. Last time she visited, we went to Alsace, in France. The time before that, we were in Berlin. When she visited during our first Germany tour, we went to Oberstaufen, near the Austrian border…
This time, we decided we wanted to go to Bamberg, a Franconian city in Bavaria known for its smoked beer and fabulous architecture that wasn’t ruined in World War II. I had heard a lot about the town over the years, but never got the opportunity to plan a visit. But, we have four nights… and Bamberg isn’t a big town. A lot of people spend a weekend there and are good with it. So I thought maybe it would be better to go to Nuremberg, which is about a 40 minute train ride away from Bamberg… I started looking for properties that would accommodate us.
Then I realized that Nuremberg might be overwhelming. It has a lot of fabulous museums, and a beautiful downtown area. But a lot of its original buildings were destroyed in World War II. I also figured that if we went to Nuremberg, we might never get around to Bamberg.
So then I thought maybe we should visit Würzburg, which is also a well-known Franconian town in Bavaria, with lots of history, beautiful buildings, and wine! Würzburg is about an hour train ride from Bamberg. At that point, we decided to take Nuremberg off the table for this trip and focus on Bamberg and Würzburg, which is only about a 90 minute drive from where we live.
I spent several days agonizing… because I really wanted to see Bamberg, but the more I read about Würzburg, the more I figured it was worthy of a visit, too. And then I saw a very attractive rental property, which I thought would be great for us. Weingut Am Stein is a functioning winery that has a guest house next to the vineyard. It’s very close to the train station, offers parking, and we’d have separate bedrooms. I went looking for something similar in Bamberg and, although I found a couple of appealing hotels, I found that booking two hotel rooms in a nice place would cost about as much as the house would.
Still… I wanted to be fair, so Bill and I flipped a two euro coin. Heads for Bamberg– tails for Würzburg. Bill flipped, and we got tails. So I booked the guest house for four nights. Truth be told, I’m not surprised it worked out this way. The minute I saw that property on Expedia, I had a feeling I’d end up booking it. Although the idea of staying in a cozy hotel with a nice restaurant is very appealing, it’s not so practical. I also heard that Bamberg is best when you just want to relax and take in the atmosphere. February isn’t exactly Biergarten weather, but I could totally see us holing up in a wine bar. The guest house is right next to the Weingut, which has a wine bar and a restaurant (which I hope will be open).
We will visit Bamberg on this trip, and if it’s as enchanting as everyone says, Bill and I will plan to visit it properly at a later date. I do like the smoked beer… have had it before, but it would be nice to try it fresh from the brewery. We can do that on this visit. We’ve already been to Rothenburg, which is another Franconian town that is very tourist friendly. But my German friend, Susanne, says that we should visit Bayreuth, too. Sigh… yet another town to add to the list of places to go!
I did watch some videos to help inform me. And I look forward to writing up this trip and collecting a lot of photos. Both towns are notably beautiful, and not actually that far from Wiesbaden. So stay tuned!
I like this guy’s channel. He’s done some great videos about German towns!
And one or two about Würzburg…
It sure is nice to have this problem. We’re definitely spoiled for choices as to where to go on short breaks. I wish we had another day or two, so we could properly do both towns. I did consider booking hotels for two nights each in both towns, but the house at the vineyard just seemed too appropriate. I don’t like booking a house for two nights, either. Anyway… it’s bound to be a blast! I think it will go down as a great trip… but then, most of our trips are awesome. I may not be the world’s most successful person, but I have managed to have a lot of fun in Europe with the best travel companion, ever!
Special thanks to Christian Horvant on Wikipedia for allowing public domain use of his photo of the Marienberg Castle in Würzburg. I look forward to taking some of my own photos when I visit, but I doubt we’ll have such pretty weather!
21 years ago today, Bill and I got married at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. On that day, we had rain, a bitchy florist, a caterer who packed things up before my mother-in-law could say goodbye to us, a fainting spell from my father-in-law right before our vows, a photographer who took pictures of the fainting, and an unlucky visit from Aunt Flow. The good news is, our marriage is thriving regardless… and it will continue to thrive after today’s craziness, too.
This morning, I told Bill I thought it might be a good day to visit the Hrazdan Gorge, and maybe the Genocide Memorial. I used to live near T’sitsernakaberd (Genocide Memorial), which is close to the Gorge and has a nice park around it. When I lived here in the 90s, I used to walk through the Gorge somewhat regularly. At least when I lived near the Genocide Memorial, anyway. Maybe not so much during the first year.
Anyway, our hotel is also near the Gorge, but from Mashtots Avenue, which is in a different part of Yerevan from where I lived. I thought we could walk through there from Mashtots and work our way to the other side of the Gorge.
We went to breakfast, and things got off to a good start. The food and beverage manager noticed I speak some Armenian and asked me about it. I told her it was our anniversary and I had come back to Armenia after 26 years. She sent us a bottle of red wine as a congratulations. It was waiting for us after our weird day. Maybe we’ll enjoy it today.
After breakfast, we got on our way. All was fine until we started heading down the crumbling steps leading to the Gorge. There weren’t many people there. Suddenly, a man wearing sunglasses and a hat showed up. He was right behind us as we started to descend. It made me nervous, so we stopped to let him pass. He passed, went down to the bottom of the steps, and turned left. We waited to see if he would keep walking, but he soon turned the other way, and kind of loitered for awhile, as if to see if we were still coming. It seemed kind of sketchy, so I told Bill I didn’t think it was a good idea to go down there. He agreed, and we made our way back up the steps. Later, we noticed the guy who was following us also came back up the steps. He wasn’t subtle at all, and seemed to be up to no good.
The Gorge is also near the Yerevan and Ararat Brandy factories. I thought maybe we could go take tours or something, rather than walk through the Gorge. We headed over to the Ararat factory, but thanks to a faulty light at the crosswalk, we weren’t able to cross the street safely. The light would turn green for us, but cars were still spewing through the intersection. So we decided to walk toward the stadium. That was okay, until some guy pulled over and urinated in front of us. That’s nothing we haven’t seen before many times, but we never relish seeing it.
We walked for awhile along the Gorge. I thought maybe we could figure out a way to get to the Memorial. But there was construction going on, and the sidewalk kind of ended abruptly. It didn’t seem like a good idea to keep going. So we turned around and said hello to a couple of very sweet and friendly looking street dogs. Then we walked back up toward our hotel…
I should mention, something not having anything to do with Armenia also happened today. I got a rude comment on my latest video.
I made this video last week for Bill, as part of our anniversary celebration…
Some random asshole left this comment (copied and pasted exactly as he left it)…
Don’t give up your day job
Joke’s on him, of course. I don’t have a day job. Nevertheless, I left him this response.
Thanks for the hit! 😉 In your profile picture, it looks like you’re taking a dump. That must be where you do your best work.
🙂 I will never understand what compels people to leave rude comments for those they don’t even know, on things they don’t have to read or watch. Especially when they, themselves, aren’t exactly any great shakes. Fuckwad, here, barely has any content on his channel and has just six subscribers, so I don’t know what qualifies him to harass me on my channel. In any case, I hope he falls into an open manhole.
I was still kind of ruminating about that comment– and no, it’s not that I care about the guy’s opinion, or even that it ruined my day. I’m kind of proud of my zinger, after all. I guess I just don’t get the psychology of such a thing. If I don’t like someone’s video or post on social media, I simply keep scrolling. But some people like to shit on others, and I’m afraid that’s what happened today. He didn’t even downvote me or anything. Just left a crappy, stale, and lame comment for my video on my wedding anniversary. I guess his time on the toilet has led to a creative block that has kept him from coming up with more original insults toward strangers.
We ended up at a restaurant called The Garden. It wasn’t a bad experience, although the service was kind of inattentive. We didn’t care, as we were just having snacks and beer, in anticipation for tonight’s meal, which we expected would be good. After we went to The Garden, we went back to the Opera House to see if the guy who sold us art the other day was still there. He wasn’t, and Bill really needed to pee. Fortunately, there is a toilet near the Opera House now. It costs 100 dram and is worth every luma. The unsmiling woman who tends it keeps it super clean and stocked. It’s a handy place to know about if you’re ever near the Opera House in Yerevan and need to pee (or whatever else).
Our reservations were for 7:30 PM. As the time went on, I yawned a bit, and wasn’t really in the mood to go out. But since it was our anniversary, I put on makeup and a dress. I curled my hair… and I even shaved my underarms. Off we went, and the whole dinner experience was a disappointment from start to finish. They had to search for our reservation, and sat us next to the kitchen, which was loud, and put me in the line of heat from the kitchen and a draft from outside.
The sommelier was a bit oily, and upsold the wine to Bill, then went through an elaborate wine service. We ordered dinner, with the anticipation that we’d have dessert. But as we sat in the restaurant, I noticed people having wedding and anniversary celebrations. Even a waiter got a flaming dessert. I didn’t care so much about having a flaming dessert, but when we mentioned it was our anniversary, no one even wished us a good one. They were playing super loud music and setting cakes on fire for other people. Did I really shave my armpits for THIS?
And when I finally went to pour my own wine, because the wait staff was weeded (or fucking around), a young man suddenly raced over to me, grabbed the decanter from my hand, and poured the wine. Bill thought maybe he was afraid I’d break the decanter, but I think this was supposed to be his idea of “good service”. It was anything but, and I was extremely annoyed, especially when the guy poured the wine, but didn’t bother to clear the table of dirty dishes. I finally scraped my plate clean and moved it to the other side of the table, after he poured the last of the wine.
Adding to the chaos was the very loud music, later provided by a female singer and what sounded like backing tracks. She was a good singer, and the tracks weren’t terrible, but her singing made it impossible to have a conversation, and it was not a whole lot better than karaoke.
I finally said to Bill, “I’ve about had enough of this shit. Let’s get out of here and have dessert at our hotel.” So that’s what we did. Bill paid for dinner and we got the hell out of there. We went to the restaurant in our hotel, had lovely desserts, fine brandies, and listened to much better jazz music played by real musicians and another female singer (who seemed to be channeling Adele). The excellent staff at our hotel restaurant saved the evening, so we made a dinner reservation for tomorrow night.
We have two more nights here until we get up in the very wee hours of Sunday morning and head back to Germany. I think we will still enjoy the rest of our time in Armenia. It has, overall, been a magical trip. But today was definitely a bit weird…
On the other hand, no one died, no one got robbed or raped, and when I get home, I can make even more videos for people like the fuckhead who told me to “keep my day job.” Too bad that guy’s mama wasn’t, instead, working at her day job on the day he was conceived. 😉 And the people at the hotel restaurant really did help us save our weird ass anniversary.
Time to close this post. Got to go to bed. Here’s to 21 years. Tomorrow will be a better day.
Ever since we first moved to Germany in 2007, and again in 2014, we’ve noticed that Halloween has become progressively more popular. We’ve also noticed that some areas celebrate it more than others do. Up here in Hesse, we’ve seen more German kids trick or treating than we did when we lived in Baden-Württemberg, but it’s always a crap shoot as to how many will ring the doorbell looking for candy. Last year there were twelve kids. This year there were only five, but it was a little rainy last night. I did get to hear the kids say, “Süß oder Sauer!”
Bill had to go to Bavaria on Sunday, so I was left to handle our crowd of five alone. He did carve a jack o’ lantern before he left, but it was already starting to rot. It’s a good thing today is November 1, because I don’t think it would have lasted another day. It was turning to mush this morning when I tossed it!
He made a classic face for his pumpkin, but I decided to put diamonds in mine. I’m not very good at making mouths on my jack o’lanterns. Actually, I’m not very good at carving pumpkins at all! But we just wanted something to cast an orange glow on a dark night…
I like this photo…Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern.
We had plenty of candy last night, and lots leftover today, even though I’ve been sneaking it all month. One of the bags Bill bought came with strawberry Twizzlers. I noticed the flavor of the Twizzlers bled into the chocolate candy. It’s not too offensive, though… and besides, American candy is expected to be too sweet and low quality. Some Germans seem to like it, anyway. I would rather have German chocolate myself, except for the odd Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
I turned on the porch lights and lit the jack o’lanterns at about 5:00 PM and kept them on until about 8:00 PM… I thought maybe some of my neighbors were joining in on the festivities, but I guess not… 😀
Anyway, I did my duty. Halloween is over now… My German friend shared this funny video about Halloween in Germany. It’s in English and pretty damned funny. I recommend that you view it.
The kids who were old enough to speak did not say “Trick or Treat” to me… And since I don’t speak German very well, I didn’t say, “Nice outfit. Happy Halloween!”
Maybe if we’re here next year, we’ll hang up some festive orange lights or something. Or take a trip somewhere else. 😉
Today is All Saints Day, so some folks are home from work. In BW, it’s a holiday, but I don’t think it necessarily is in Hesse, where there aren’t as many Catholics or religious people, in general. The weather is crappy, as it usually is this time of year. What a change from a month ago! If I were the type to play tricks on people, I might have used Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern to make a mess somewhere. But I’ve become very respectable in my old age, so I just dumped it in the brown compost bin.
In one week, Bill will be home, and we’ll be packing to go to Armenia. I look forward to it! Because after that, it’ll be time for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday.
My “street dog”, Noyzi from Kosovo, sitting on the rug next to my computer, striking a pose…
First thing’s first. I’m happy to report that my left eye is back to normal now. It only took a few days, rather than the couple of weeks predicted in the articles and videos on the subject of subconjunctival hemorrhages.
I was going to make one of my usual music videos yesterday, having discovered the wonderful Peggy Lee last week. Well, I shouldn’t say I “discovered” her, per se… I had heard of her. I just never bought much of her music and listened to it intently. That changed last week, when I covered her version of “Blue Moon”, a song I never really had much affection for, until I heard Peggy do it.
One of the three songs I did last week… I ended up buying a big a Peggy Lee album.
After I did a version of Peggy Lee’s cover of “Blue Moon”, I came across her song “He’s a Tramp”, from Lady and the Tramp. I haven’t seen that move in decades, but I am a committed dog lover, and I loved Peggy’s sultry purr. I decided to try it yesterday… and since my eye was only about 90% healed, I had Noyzi from Kosovo star in the video. I happened to have a few candid Noyzi clips from around the house… I thought it would be easy to throw them in a movie made on my new computer. Well… I was wrong. But I did manage to make the video on my older laptop. Below is the end result.
There’s a long instrumental intro… but it’s a short video.
It was sheer luck that his wiggly butt matched the tempo of the song. It was hard to manipulate the clips on the laptop, since I don’t have a magic mouse for it. I need to research how to fix the settings on my computer so I don’t have the same issue adding clips to my videos on the desktop machine in the future. I think it has something to do with permissions. Whatever it is, it’s a highly annoying problem, especially when I just want to make a quick video without a lot of fuss. I wish I were more of a technical guru.
Here’s a fun factoid. Noyzi loves watching videos, especially if they have any type of animal in it. He will watch animals of any species whatsoever, but he especially likes watching other dogs. When I played the animated version of “He’s a Tramp” just to hear how Peggy Lee did it, Noyzi came in and stood next to me. He was watching the video of Peg, the shelter dog, singing about the Tramp who broke doggy hearts with no compunction.
I wouldn’t say our Noyzi is really a “tramp”. He’s actually the best behaved dog we’ve ever had, in spite of his being a “street dog”. He’s clean and very quiet, and never has accidents in the house. He doesn’t get into the trash or break into the basement. Most of the time, I barely know he’s here. He loves people, car rides, other dogs, and seeing and doing new things, and he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. I just thought his cute little tail wag would be perfect for that song! And it gave me an excuse not to put on makeup for my weekly music video.
By the way… my guitar playing is coming along. I might even be ready to do a guitar video soon. I just have to iron out some technical issues first.
I didn’t get a chance to write about last Friday’s wine stand, because I was too busy blogging about our big trip up north. It was an unusually fun wine stand, though, so I figure I might as well offer a quick post about it.
Last Friday night (July 7th), it was really hot outside. We got there early, having brought Noyzi with us. I was thinking we’d have a couple of glasses of wine and go home and have some of the cake I baked for Bill’s birthday. We managed to snag a seat under the tent, which was really nice.
After a short while, our landlord’s wife showed up with some friends. We ended up hanging out with them for awhile. I like our landlord’s wife. She’s a very nice person, always friendly and kind, and she refers to us as her neighbors, rather than her tenants.
I ended up telling her that I am a singer, and she heard a couple of my songs, including one I did for Bill on the occasion of his 59th birthday. She warned me about the upcoming dust we would be experiencing this week, as all of the windows were replaced in our house.
Indeed, this week was a real challenge. I wrote about it in the main blog, and because it was largely a negative experience, dealing with local craftsmen who were very ill mannered, I’ll leave that part out of this post. But anyway, it was a nice time bonding with our neighbors, all of whom are very nice.
The wine was good and the company was excellent… and best of all, Noyzi had a blast. He’s really getting the hang of the wine stands. Below are some photos of Bill’s favorite– Blackout Cake. I think we still have some left. Maybe I’ll have some while he shops for a new battery for my car. He’s finally getting around to fixing it today.
Bill LOVES this cake. It’s never failed me.
And below are a few photos from the wine stand… They’re pretty much the same photos I always seem to take. But not all wine stands are created equally. Last week’s was very good! COVID-19 has made me realize how much we enjoy the community events in our village. We sure did miss the wine stands during the pandemic.
Noyzi is a PRO.
I may not be good for much… but I can bake a mean cake, and sing a nice song. Below is the song I did for Bill’s birthday. He loved it!
I wasn’t expecting to do this song for Bill… learned it on a whim. You can see our old windows. Those have been replaced and are now white. They’re great windows, but I hope I never see those craftsmen again.
It’s kind of overcast today, so I’m not sure if we’ll get out and do anything. I’m just hoping we can get my car running again. Maybe we’ll be able to drive it somewhere. 😉
I can’t believe we’re already in the middle of January 2023. Time sure is flying. Ordinarily, we would have used Martin Luther King Day weekend for a short trip somewhere. But we haven’t been living in ordinary times for awhile now. Last year, we had COVID to deal with. This year, it’s Arran’s cancer.
Actually, we probably could have gone somewhere. He’s not so ill that he can’t be boarded. All he needs is Prednisolone every other day, a vet visit every other week, and Endoxan twice a week, every other week. This week, he just got the Prednisolone, which would have been easy for our regular boarding facility to manage. I just don’t want to board him if I can avoid it, because I know he’d rather be with us.
Noyzi loves being boarded, but I don’t want to drop him off and take Arran with us. That’s a hassle. Taking Noyzi with us is also difficult, because takes up the whole back end of our car. It’s better if he gets boarded. It’s hard to shop when the dog takes up all the cargo space. At this point, we have plans to go to Stuttgart at the end of March. The dogs will be boarded for that.
It was a lot easier to travel when we had Zane, as he and Arran could share the back seat. Zane also didn’t mind going to the potty on the leash. We did manage to get Noyzi to poop on the leash when we took him to France, but it took awhile. On the other hand, Zane was a lot louder and naughtier than Noyzi is. We were more likely to get yelled at by locals when we traveled with Zane.
The weather in Germany was pretty gloomy this weekend. We’ve had rain every day. While it’s not super cold, it is pretty windy and blustery. I still have a touch of cabin fever and would like to get out and do something fun. Then I look at the depressing weather and decide to hibernate.
It’s not all bad, though. I used the fireplace last night, which is always nice. I wish we had seating in the living room that makes the fireplace easy to enjoy. I like this house a lot, but the downstairs layout could be better. The living room is like two rooms that open into the dining room.
I was thinking the other day… I’d like to turn the dining room into an extension of the kitchen. Put in a pantry and a wine fridge, and move our spare fridge upstairs. Maybe install a kitchen island. and more counter space, and put in a door to block the kitchen from the living room. Too bad this isn’t my house and I don’t have tons of money. 😉
Bill and I spent the weekend watching movies, listening to music, drinking wine, and talking. He tried out making calzones with the empanada makers I got him for Christmas. They tasted good, although his presentation technique needs some polish. I’m sure he’ll get a chance to practice. He also tried a couple of new recipes from one of the cookbooks I got him.
I have been giving some thought to places we’d like to visit this year… I know Bill wants to go to Spain and/or Portugal again. I’d like to go to the Baltics, or maybe Finland. I’d also like to visit Brno in the Czech Republic. There are more exotic places we’d like to go, as well. They would require flying, which I’m still not sure I want to do unless I have to. I do know, however, that I’d like to venture out beyond the usual countries… France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and the like.
For now, though… we’re at home. At least Bill got lots of sleep, which he really needs. Below are some photos… The first, second, and fourth are of the calzone experiment. The fifth is of some Bearnaise Sauce Bill tried to make using a new recipe out of a Michel Roux cookbook I bought him.
The last photo is a bottle of wine a friend bought that comes from Bauerwein.de, a winery in the Pfalz. They have lots of wines with funny names. There’s one called Bullshit, and another called If You’re a Terrorist, Racist, or Just an Asshole, Don’t Drink My Wine. I could list more, but some of the names are really long and I have another blog post to type. I’m thinking of ordering a bunch. If we’d had nicer weather, maybe we would have paid them a visit. Their outfit is about 80 minutes away from us.
I’d really like to kick the travel blog back into gear in 2023, although I don’t have plans to publicize it much. I can see there are a lot of people who are better at this than I am… and make YouTube videos, and shit. I just put songs on YouTube. 😉
Some of my regular travel blog readers might recall that Bill and I took a trip to Italy last spring. I blogged about the trip in sixteen parts, which also included stops in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. We visited Parma, Modena, Florence, Pisa, Viareggio, and several adorable towns in Tuscany, as we visited several Chianti Classico wineries. That was the most recent of our more epic European trips, and I’ve found myself looking back on it wistfully. I am REALLY in need of a trip somewhere. But other events are in the way, to include our dog Arran’s chemotherapy, which is still going surprisingly well.
I’ve even been giving some thought to visiting Italy again in 2023. I follow the Meet the Wengers YouTube channel, which is a family vlog run by an American woman named Katie, who married a German man. They have three adorable and apparently well-behaved children. Recently, she posted some videos about the family’s fall trip to Verona, a city I haven’t yet visited in Italy. Her videos make me want to go there and explore.
One of a few videos the Wengers have done about Verona… Now I want to go, too.
Well, yesterday, Bill got a reminder of our most recent trip to Italy. It came in the form of a traffic ticket. We drove to Florence, mainly because we wanted to bring some food and wines back to Germany, and because I didn’t want to deal with flying, due to the pandemic. Having a car makes travel in Europe a little bit more liberated, as it means not being dictated by timetables or established routes. However, car travel comes with its own hazards, which include traffic cameras that take photos of those who break the rules.
In our case, the infraction occurred on April 27, 2022, when Bill mistakenly drove our Volvo through a restricted area. It seems that many towns in certain Italian cities don’t allow non-residents to drive on certain streets. We had a bunch of bags, since we were on a long trip. The hotel we stayed in was on the third floor of a building and kind of hard to find. Bill was disoriented as to where we were supposed to go, although it turned out there was a very large parking garage near the hotel.
Long story short, the cameras caught Bill driving where he wasn’t supposed to go. Naturally, we were both completely oblivious to the infraction. Some Italian cities that have these rules against non-residents driving on restricted streets, will allow travelers to register their vehicles before their arrival. I think the city of Bologna is one of those places. Bologna is another city I haven’t yet seen. Maybe we’ll go there next time and avoid Florence! 😉
Yesterday, Bill had to sign for a letter at the post office on our local military installation. It was in a window envelope, and came from the city of Firenze. Inside the envelope was the notification of the driving infraction, written in both Italian and English, and a complete rundown of the law that was broken. There was also a schedule of the fines to be paid. It’s 68 euros if Bill pays within six days. If he delays payment between 6 and 60 days, it goes up to about 95 euros. If he doesn’t pay within 60 days, it goes up to 176 euros.
At first, Bill thought the ticket read that he would have had to have paid within six days of the infraction, but obviously he hadn’t been notified at that time. Upon closer examination, he read that he can still pay the reduced fine, since he just got notice. It’s done via bank transfer, as most things here are.
We’re just glad this didn’t happen in Switzerland, as the fines are probably a lot higher there… but they probably also come within a couple of weeks, rather than several months, routed through The Netherlands. I don’t know why the ticket went through The Netherlands. Maybe it’s because the ticketing agency is outsourced.
I just took down all the Christmas decorations. I’m glad to have that yearly chore done. It’s a lot easier to take the decorations down than put them up; and for that, I’m grateful. However, I always find it a little sad to see my living room in its normal state. I like the homey look created by the Christmas lights. On the other hand, it’s less to have to deal with, and I also look forward to more daylight and better weather. I’m definitely ready to have some fun! So now, on with making some travel plans for 2023! We’ll be more careful about where we drive and park, next time!
Edited to add: The day after I posted this, Bill got a second ticket from Firenze for the same offense. He drove through that historic area twice! I’m glad he moved to a different area after dropping me off. Both tickets, paid at the lowest rate, were about 60 euros each– so, 120 euros for driving in the wrong places in Italy. Expensive lesson learned.
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