Trier, Germany

On the way back from Lux, we stopped at Trier, a town in Germany known for its ancient Roman ruins. The weather was lackluster so we only walked around for an hour or two and then headed back to Stuttgart.

Roman Ruins in Trier

More Ruins in Trier

Steve taking a picture of the "Do Not Cross on Red because Children might be Watching" sign while the light is red and cars are coming

Luxembourg City

So after Paris, I took a weekend journey to the city of Luxembourg (which is in the tiny country of Luxembourg). After looking for things to do on the internet, I stumbled across a party at a bar called 'The Viking" that stating it was a premier Scandinavian bar and it was having the "Party of the Year" with 1 Euro tequila and spicy vodka shots (no... not mixed). Because of that, we arrived Friday night by car. Needless to say we were disappointed when we walked in. The bar was completely filled with smoke and the crowd was in high school. I took no more than 3 steps and turned around. We found a place to have a few drinks but the nightlife in Luxembourg is nothing to write home about (a bit of an ironic statement considering I'm blogging about it).

On Saturday we spent the day exploring the city. It took all of about 2 hours -- total. We walked a bit and took pictures. Then we stopped in an open area and had a beer at a Cafe. I saw the sun for the first time since Zurich so that was kind of nice. We continued walking around for another hour or so and found our way back to the same plaza as before. We then decided to have a drink and eat a little something. 5 beers and 4 hours later, after sitting in the sun, we decided to go back to the hotel and figure out a plan for dinner (which we ate at an Indian restaurant).


On the way back from Lux, we stopped at Trier, a town in Germany known for its ancient Roman ruins. The weather was lackluster so we only walked around for an hour or two and then headed back to Stuttgart.

Luxembourg City

Building in Luxembourg

It's been a while... part 2

The following weekend I went Heidelberg on Friday night to meet up with some SigEps who were visiting France and Germany for their Spring Break class. I don't have pictures of Heidelberg since I only stayed the night and all we did was go out for dinner and a few drinks.

I woke up early the next morning to catch the ICE (German high-speed train) to Paris. There I met my mom, who was taking a Spring Break university class. It was a great weekend and we had lots of fun. On the return, I took the TGV (high-speed French train). It was soooo worth the money to take the train. What would have taken me 5+ hours (plus gas expense) by car, only took about 3.5 hours by train.

View from the hotel

Me in front of the Louvre

Mona Lisa

Venus

It's been a while... part 1

Wow, it's been 4 weeks since I last blogged. I have been busy to say the least. Work is really in full swing. I am finally getting a grasp of the technical aspects of the new Hybrids, soon to be on sale stateside. The only problem is that I have only 2 work weeks left (since I will be taking Easter week off, like the rest of the office).

So where have I been since Zurich? Everywhere. Well almost.
First was Feldberg, Germany where I attempted to snowboard. I would not consider what I did as actual snowboarding, but it was only my first time.

Rafael and Cesar (Brazilians) and me

Zurich

Previous to the night-on-the-town, we decided to go to Zurich in the morning (err afternoon). So I picked up Steve and Rafael and off we went. It was almost all Autobahn on the way, and I managed to get past the ECU controlled speed of 212 kph and hit 215 kph! About 2-3 km before the Swiss border they had a police stop. They questioned us and checked our passports and we were good to go. At the border, we were flagged again and asked to see our passports and car docs. After all that, we didn't even get a stamp in our passports. I was a little upset. I have bunch of stamps from different places and since Switzerland is not part of the EU, I thought for sure I would get one. I guess I will have to fly in through Switzerland one time to get my stamp!

Zurich is a really nice city. Relatively small, you can walk the main areas in an hour or two. I can definitely attest to the fact that Zurich is the most expensive city in Europe. Dinner cost about 30 CHF (Swiss Franks) = $26. That's a bit much for one beer, a sausage, and some traditional Swiss potatoes (called Rosti). We then went to a Irish pub we staked out earlier. Thinking the "scene" would get better later in the night, we decided to grab a table and a few beers. How wrong we were. Apparently women do not go out to drink in Zurich. We went to another bar that seemed to have potential. Again -- not much. We went back to the hotel and commented that it was the first time in awhile we went home drinking only 4 beers.

One of the clock towers in Zurich

Lake Zurich
(click on the picture and you can see the Alps)

Sunday was a day to take pictures. We strolled up this hill I saw the day before. From here, it overlooked the Altstadt (old city) and the river, leading to Lake Zurich. We then caught a train to a mountain town called Uetliberg. Here we hiked up a little ways. There was a large tower you could climb and the views of the city, lake, and the Alps were amazing. Unfortunately, I was careless and didn't check to see what settings my camera was on. Assuming it was set to the setting I wanted, I took a ton of pictures with the Alps in the background. When I got home and downloaded all of them, I could not see the Alps at all. Apparently the setting I was on caused over-exposure and the glare from the sun whitewashed the Alps. I'm a little angry at myself for being so careless. I've been to all of these places and have not once made that mistake. It was really a beautiful place. I guess that means I'll just have to go back some day.

Clock tower in Zurich (over-exposed)

On top of the tower in Uetliberg (w/0 Alps)

Let the Parties Begin!

What a world-wind week it was (last week).

Tuesday: My birthday. We went out for dinner at a Mexican place called Enchiladas. See picture below.

Wednesday: I went to visit some friends who were about an hour or so away in Karlsruhe. Needless to say I walked in the door that night at 4:30am.

Thursday: Denise's birthday dinner at The Floating Market (Thai-Japanese restaurant).

Friday: Combined 25th Birthday Party. We started at Suite 212. There were a lot of people there, including an old boss from MBUSA who is now working in Stuttgart. We then moved on to Mutter Milch (translated as Mothers Milk). That was even more crowded but DJ was only playing House/Techno, which I'm not the biggest fan of. After 2 Cuba Libres (Rum & Cokes here), we went to Classic Rock. This was a fun place. They played a variety of old and new (mostly older) songs. The Beir von Fass (beer on tap) was pretty good also. We wrapped up the night at a place (I never got the name of it) that was smoky and crowded. We got one drink there and decided to call it a night. It was only 5:30am at the time.

Birthday dinner @ Enchiladas

Irony and/or Oddity

• Everything in Germany is "closed" on Sundays (even grocery stores). During the week most places close at 8pm (except restaurants).
  
• My gym is open 24/7/365.
• The entrance to my gym is a part of the Drive-Thru for Burger King (which is in the same building).
• Men here were sandals with socks -- in the winter!
• Apartments/houses have window shades on the outside of the window.
• People stare -- a lot.
• You can park on the street facing either way (with or against traffic).
• German guys rocking Guido blowouts as if they are from Staten Island (no offense to those from Staten Island that do not have a blowout).