2011 has already started to get ahead of us, but before we go any further, we want to finish what we started … not like it was a New Year’s resolution or anything …
The spring months were a bit more tolerable than winter in 2010 and we found ourselves stretching our legs (among other body parts), exploring places outside Bavaria and digging deeper into the local culture here. (As with the last installment, I drew my favorite experience of the month on the left and Molly's is on the right.)
April: Not even a volcanic eruption could stop us from a pilgrimage to Amsterdam. After it looked like our flight was going to be delayed for more than a few hours, we took a gamble, shuttled over to the train station and booked a ticket before the rest of the flying world realized they were grounded.
Luckily for us the receptionist wouldn’t let us keep the return leg of our flight because the airports were still dealing with massive delays well after the weekend.
Amsterdam is probably my favorite city (architecturally / geographically speaking) thus far in our travels. Walking, biking, boating – like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, there’s no wrong way to cruise the canals.
At one point after being lost for a bit we stumbled into what felt like the center of the universe – there were canals in every direction! That same day we laughed until we cried when I discovered a tourist who was the spit and image Matt Winfree (plus another 200 lbs).
In both cases I guess you had to be there, and be there again we definitely will.
May: The next month we stretched our traveling legs a bit further for a weeklong yoga retreat in southern Turkey and spent a few days in Istanbul. We both took something valuable away from the trip – Molly got her yoga on (she also just started teaching yoga here a few weeks ago here) and I learned some valuable lessons in bargaining with the locals.
June: It took us exactly two weeks (the duration of last year’s summer here in Germany) to realize why the Germans consider the three-week vacation in summer sacred. We had our first “real” gig in Pottenstein along with a rockin’ campfire strum-along and were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of World Cup fever.
Germans take their fussball very seriously. When Germany was playing even our little town would completely shut down and all the little cafes and restaurants would push most of their seating outside, everyone huddled around a flat screen TV or a huge screen in front of the town hall. In the end, Paul the Octopus was too accurate an oracle for his own good.
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