Falkenberg

I believe it's time to present to you what I believe will be the last installment of my latest trip to Germany. My wife's grandparents live in Falkenberg. Oma (or Omi) and Opa (or Opi) she calls them.
It was to be the relaxing portion of my trip. Whenever we visit them they always put the Texas flag on their flag pole. This time they put their state flag underneath. It's the state of Brandenburg if I remember correctly. I also had to explain to them that the red goes on bottom. They had it upside down when I arrived and I didn't need any help so they fixed it.

Sec. 3100.053. ORIENTATION ON FLAGPOLE OR FLAGSTAFF. If the state flag is displayed on a flagpole or flagstaff, the white stripe should be at the top of the flag, except as a signal of dire distress in an instance of extreme danger to life or property.

They have a very nice house. It's one of my favorite houses that I've ever been to. In this trip my wife signed some papers giving ownership of the house to her. I don't know what to think of it. Obviously part of the agreement was that her grandparents will continue to live at and maintain the property. It's complicated.

They have a wonderful backyard with fountains and lights and fruit trees and gardens and wasps. Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Anyway, I love the house. The only thing I don't like about it is it has no Internet. I believe that can be remedied. You get to have some beautiful sunsets and you get to have some beautiful women sitting out front.

EVE Online

I've been remiss in my blogging duties mainly due to another game addiction. I frequently encounter these rabid addictions and I don't really fully understand how it happens.

EVE Online is not exciting. It's kind of pretty and it's science fiction. It's categorized as an MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game)because you are paying the part of a space ship pilot in an interstellar setting with thousands of other players.

I can't really put a finger on why I'm hooked and that in itself may be part of the beauty of it. EVE Online is an older game. I believe it was released in 2003 or 2004. The closest thing I can compare it to is the old BBS (Bulletin Board Service for you youngsters) games back before the Internet was mainstream. Where you'd login once a day and perform a series of actions to carry out until the next time you logged in.

Since it's on the Internet and you have a permanent connection along with 30k other players or so, it's a bit more real time, but it's got a similar feel. There seems to be a lot more strategy than your standard MMO's.

Without looking up the "standard" description on the Internet, I'll just spew forth some of the things I did when I started playing in a salesman type fashion.

I started out looking up the descriptions of the various inhabitants of the solar system and found one that I'd like to "be". I chose the Minmatar.

I went into a character generation screen where I could change my portrait. I picked a guy with sparse and spiked blond hair with 3 or 4 little metal spike implants poking out vertically from his forehead. Then I gave him a name "Zulutaz" and entered the game.


I started out in a nice little tutorial. I was a little disappointed that I had to read a lot. I just stopped playing Age of Conan where they talk to you.

The tutorial got me started on skill training, outfitting my ship and doing missions. In Eve Online, each ship has slots for powered equipment (low, medium and high). Weapons and mining equipment require special bays. Some ships have more bays than others. The rookie ship for the tutorial is just enough to get you started.

Now, I've been playing for about a week and I've gone though maybe 40 missions. I can mine minerals from asteroids and read blueprints. I can give blueprints to a factory at a base along with various minerals I've mined and refined and they'll build equipment for me to use or sell. I've been in fights in the vacuum of space with my 125mm Guns, my Missile Launchers, my Rocket Launchers, my Carbines, my Shield Boosters, etc.

I've warped to stargates and gated to other solar systems where I saw the best market deal for a new ship. I've purchased new ships, I've sold old ships, and I've even had the manufacturing facilities manufacture a ship for me with my blueprints and materials.

If I had to compare it to the most popular MMO in the world right now, I'd have to say it's interface is nice and I didn't see any issues with it. It takes more intelligence to play than WOW (World of Warcraft), but it has the same attention to detail and things are fairly intuitive. The violence is not there. EVE is obviously sci-fi instead of fantasy. There are no level "dings". There are no cute little battlegrounds. It's much more of a strategy game.

Hanover to Ronneburg

Ronneburg is where my mother-in-law lives. Leipzig is the closest city that you might recognize.

The following photos and descriptions were taken in and around Ronneburg. Just because I always call it Ronneburg doesn't mean it always is. I can't remember all the names of the little German villages.

My mother-in-law also lives on the 5th story of an apartment. Thus, my packing nightmares were to continue. In my last installment I'll try and give some photo documentation of our luggage nightmare.

The first thing planned for us when we arrived was to drive to a nearby town and go go-kart racing followed by a round of mini-golf. I don't believe I've ever done the go-kart thing before. I remember enjoying bumper cars at Six Flags Over Texas back when that park was still enjoyable. Go-kart racing is a workout. I wasn't sure what to expect, but to walk away sore and sweaty was completely unexpected. It was also fun though. My wife took pictures. She was having a bit of trouble with the camera and the intense speed. That's me with the black helmet and the blue jean jacket. I was stylin.

Mini-golf was a bit more lackadaisical. Any time I do this kind of thing I go into it with good intentions and by the 9th hole, I'm just trying to stay focused enough not to sleepwalk. It was a pretty course though.



I don't know who told our gracious hosts that I have an acute case of claustrophobia, but the next day they took us to an old mining cave that's been commercialized. It's called the Saalfelder Feengrotten which translates to Saalfeld Fairy Grottoes. I wasn't really sure what to expect. The only caverns I've ever been to are the Carlsbad Caverns and they are huge. This was a bit of a struggle.



The next day I got my first pedicure. I'm thinking this might be a bi-monthly thing. My feet are quite ticklish, but by the time it was all said and done I was very pleased with my soft toesies. Upon initial contact I was thinking it might be worse than the caves as far as having to be brave. As with the cave though, I was glad that I pushed forward.


After the pedicure we went to a mall. I noticed something at this mall that I truly believe all malls should have. I called it a place for the guys. A bar right in the middle of the mall. It was good for me because I could sit there and drink real good beer and watch people all day long. It was good for my wife because after a few drinks I wasn't as irritated that she was buying her 900th pair of shoes.


I also got to see my first German prison before we left. No, I didn't get to see the inside. Although I did have a mean German bar manager once tell me that he would show me what the inside of a German prison looks like. To this day, I've not seen one.

Künzell to Hanover

After spending two days in Fulda, we drove two and a half hours to Hanover. The above picture was taken at a small pub in Fulda.

I had never been to Hanover before so this might actually be a treat. If it weren't for having to pack and unpack four suitcases every two days and lug them up and down stairs and pack them in the car it would have been a real treat.









My wife's best friend and her best friend's boyfriend live in Hanover. Their apartment was conveniently located on the 4th floor. I can only assume that this is a way for the travel gods to curse me for bringing four 50 pound suitcases.

Hanover is a cool place. It has lots of history. In German cities, the town hall is ironically called the Rathaus. For some reason, I find this particularly humorous. Like most German cities, it has bicycle lanes on most all the roads and people walking and riding more than they are driving.

We toured the Rathaus in Hanover. There was a tour that took you up to the top tower in the center and you could see out in all directions over the entire city. In the center of the main room in the Rathaus were four models of the various stages of Hanover construction and/or deconstruction. The first one shows Hanover as a castle or keep complete with a moat (of sorts). Then there is one of it as a developing city. There is a sad one of it after World War II. It was prime bombing target for allied bombing runs. Finally, there is a current model. It looks to be built up better than before. I wonder how much money the allies who bombed it invested in its rebuilding. I took pictures, but they aren't very good. I'll put them here anyway (in order).

We went to a cool bar in Hanover. Outside of the bar was a Bier Bike. It was just about the coolest thing I've ever not been able to do. Not for lack of wanting to mind you. It's basically a shack with a tap for tapping beer and a steering wheel for driving. I assume that you have a driver and a bartender. There are 5 seats on each side with bicycle pedals that seem to drive an axle underneath. The back has a bench for 3 or 4 lazy people. I assume that they had to make the bench for the Americans.

Anyway, on to the bar.

The bar had all you can eat wings and all you can eat ribs. But, the best things about it was the beer. They brewed all their own beer in house and it was some good stuff. I was especially fond of the dark beer that they had. As a surprise our hosts ordered a "drinking game". I don't know what it was called, but it looked scary. 11 little glasses of beer paired with 11 little glasses of some kind of corn alcohol. The idea is to pick up both glasses and drink the beer whilst emptying the little shot glass into the beer glass. It's a lot of fun. I'm still looking for a place in Dallas that has a similar setup.I also uploaded a video for a video example of the drinking process as shown by the expert.



But, the most entertaining part of the bar that night was the duck that drank too much. It's a story in pictures. You probably won't find it as funny as I did. But I've got a wicked keen sense of humor.
We also went to a lake in Hanover. I walked too long in sandals and made my feet sore. My feet don't like sandals. The kid with the chocolate ice cream was cool. The sunset on the lake was pretty.












At some point my wife tried valiantly to cause me bodily harm even though I was wearing the shirt she makes me wear.
From Hanover we were destined for Ronneburg. Another two to three hour drive.

Entertaining Guests from Foreign Countries in Dallas

My brother-in-law is in town and I feel a bit guilty for not being a proper host. I've been rather good about not spending time on my computer when I get home from work (thus the lack of quality blog postings), but I really am not much of a host as far as entertaining and site seeing.

On Monday my wife was in a minor fender bender and that has further cramped my style because now I don't always have a car. Today, she took the car so I had to hitchhike to work.

But, I do the best I can. On Tuesday, he was wanting to have some Texas Barbecue and oogle Texas women so I took him to Bone Daddy's. A good time was had by all.

Yesterday I took him to a couple of local tattoo studios to get some ink done. Tattoo studios are interesting.

The first one we went to was called Love-N-Hate Tattoo Studio. It was in a fairly good location. As in, you weren't scared to leave your car parked outside. Once you enter, there was an appropriately inked and pierced man sitting behind the desk who gave you a rude stare like you were interrupting his contemplation of the grander meaning of life.

He took the picture that my brother-in-law wanted and ran back to get a "quote". They told us $60. This is for a small tattoo about an inch square, all in black, on the muscly area between the thumb and forefinger.

I should mention that I tell these people ahead of time that his English is not perfect and I have to sometimes translate.

He thinks about the $60 and decides it's okay, he'll do it. Then this rude little lady comes out and says, "How old are you?" He says, "Eh?" Not expecting to be accosted in such a manner, his translator was not ready for an English interrogation by a scary looking tattoo woman.

Now she thinks he's stupid and asks again for the age followed by an irrational explanation of youngsters, first tattoos and hands. I wasn't listening too well because as soon as she started talking I was looking for the exit. She was that bad as she sat back on the couch betwixt some kind of wicked love triangle and on the cushy expanse of her pompous ass.

There was one more studio within 5 minutes so we decided to try that one. It was called "A Better Tattoo". In all honesty, I was leery about leaving my car out front. There were people hanging around outside a convenient store or something in the same parking lot which was dimly lit. When we went in, there were 4 people. One on a laptop, one getting a tattoo, one giving a tattoo and one young woman in ripped up jeans and a t-shirt that said something about dropping acid. If I gave it enough thought I could probably remember the exact phrase. It was along a similar vein as the "make love not war" thing.

It was a casual environment, but they were all nice albeit a bit socially awkward. They quoted him $50 and he had his tattoo within 45 minutes and he was very happy with it. They listened to me when I explained the language barrier. They gave us both the care instructions and I promised I'd get my wife to translate it for him. If you are going to get a Tattoo in the North Dallas (Denton, Carrollton, Lewisville) area, I'd highly recommend the folks at A Better Tattoo. That's where I'll go when I'm old enough to get one.

First Stop: Künzell

We had a small Mercedes A-class wagon waiting on us at the Sixt rental car at the Frankfurt airport.

We drove on to Künzell mostly along the A66 to stay at the Bäder Park Hotel. The hotel where I met my wife.

Tha A66 is a very nice scenic highway to start your Autobahn experience on if you have never driven the Autobahn before.

Künzell, I guess, is kind of a suburb of Fulda. I believe there used to be an American army base in Fulda. Fulda is not too far from Point Alpha (the hottest point of the cold war).

The hardest part about traveling over the Atlantic is the first day. For example: we left out on Sunday at 2 PM. We arrived in Frankfurt on Monday at 7 AM. If you want to survive the jet lag for the first two days, you must force yourself to treat Monday as a normal day. Have lunch at noon, dinner at 6 PM and go to bed no earlier than 9 PM. If you don't force yourself to follow this simple plan, you'll screw up Tuesday.


Monday night we went to the Beiz. This is the lovely pub underneath the hotel. They have the best beer in the world on tap. The Kreuzberg Bier.

One of my colleagues asked me to take some pictures of a German pub. The Beiz is my favorite German pub. It was in that location that I discovered the name and phone number of my future wife.

Flying from Dallas to Frankfurt

I've made the flight from Dallas to Frankfurt many many times. The only airlines that have direct flights are American and Lufthansa.

I haven't flown Lufthansa in a while. Last time I did, their planes were not up to spec entertainment wise. They had movies, but they were on those screens that come down out of the ceiling that you share with about 30 other people. So you watch what everyone else watches. But, on Lufthansa, you get free alcoholic beverages so after a while the lack of televised entertainment becomes less important.

On American Airlines, you have your very own screen, but the entertainment runs in cycles. It's like a TV with no VCR or DVD player. You can watch the shows you want to watch, but only at their designated showing times. On American, the alcoholic beverages cost $5.

I flew Delta this time and had to make a stop in Atlanta. I don't like making stops. But the flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt merged the best of both worlds with a technologically advanced entertainment system. The alcoholic beverages were mostly free. Beer and wine were free. The harder stuff including mixed drinks still cost $5. The entertainment system was like your own little DVD/CD/Game box in the comfort of your own slightly too small for comfort chair (but they all have the chair thing in common). They had a pretty good selection of movies to choose from and the movies started whenever you push the play button and you could pause, rewind and fast forward.