Forgive the lack of a post last night. Could have blogged-but with the S.O. asleep from the days exertions and the internet in the lobby acting cranky anyway-decided to blow it off to drink a few beers at the International Bar, The Flying Pig, located just around the corner from our hotel. Turned out to be an interesting excursion-seems it is run by an young Englishman who speaks fluent German.
And speaking of fluent German, someone has to explain to me, why I took six years in High School and College to learn the language-only to have every German speaker I try to use it with turn up their nose at me as soon as I start with , ” Wir mochte…………” What is up with that?
Anyway.
We went to Schonbrun yesterday. It is one of two palaces the Hapsburgs used during the time they ruled a united central Europe, before i was fractured into the discombobulated mess it is today. It is an elegant palace, painted in the same yellow as Versailles, but unlike Verailles, in my opinon is not as elegant. Its more , oh I don’t know, German. But from the outside-it’s still pretty good to see:
Hanging with the Hapsburgs!
There was a lot more to see-if you are interested, read on!
On the way to Prague this afternoon. For some strange reason you have to go to the south station to get to Prague which is North. Don’t ask me-that’s where the train runs from.
Yesterday though was a good day. We followed up on our Schonbrun visit, by taking the time to go to Hofburg, and spend most of the day in that area. Well worth the time.
Started off by making our way to the park behind the National Library:
And it looks like a good time could be had-if I was free to explore it………….
There are indications of some really primo nightlife it seems. Not that I am going to see any of it.
Have seen plenty of stores though, lots of ceramics and Bohemian glass.
Pix to come-including food. But not till I get back to Shopping Mall probably. I do, however have a restaruant recommendation for you-Restaurace u parilmentu. Valentinska8, Praha 1. A good bar that happens to have good food. Believe it or not the S.O. actually picked it! That’s a huge shocker for so many reasons. Several different beers on tap. If you go to Prague-go there, but expect it to be packed with people drinking.
Its late and got to be up early tomorrow. Fun day today though. Best day of the trip.
Albeit-more than a little sadly. One of the things I marvel about, in an age of jet air travel, is how I can wake up in a vibrant city like Munich, and then 18 hours later be laying my head down in a hick town like shopping mall. Given a choice, I’ll take the vibrant city every time. The life of the landed gentry in America may appeal to some-and once I thought it did to me-but not anymore. The boy has gotten off the farm-and has no desire to go back. Call me, a citizen of the world.
Now I just have to find a vehicle to fund that ambition.
Till then, God willing, I’ll be back at my desk in Dullsville tomorrow. See you there!
I thought it was going to be like sliding down a greased rope to go home. I was wrong.
Actually getting out of Munich worked fine. The hotel we had chosen was right above the S-bahn stop of S-8, the line that runs directly to the airport. So after checkout, all we had to do was take an elevator down two floors and walk to the escalators. 35 minutes later we were at the airport.
We spent the final night in Munich-and had gotten in by the most direct train possible from Prague. Which was both good and bad. The train was Czech train and the cars were in disrepair somewhat-we could never get the heat right in the compartment. So we either roasted or froze during the journey. Funny thing, when we crossed the border into Germany after Plzen-it settled down nicely. Important safety tip though-if you want to ride a train that sells food, leave from Holovince, not from Hvlani Nadrazi. We learned that lesson the hard way. Even though we had eaten a big breakfast-we were starving by the time we got to Munich.
So we dumped the bags at the hotel-and headed straight to City Hall, to go to the Christmas market which had just opened. We just walked around and ate sausage and drank beer at various stands. Walk around some more and repeat the food buying. After 5 bratwursts and about 1.26 liters of fine Munich beer, we were both full. We said screw going to a restaurant and explored some.
After a pretty good flight to Dulles, the adventure began. I can’t blame America’s worst run airport-much as I would like to. The weather was really bad all over the east coast and apparently getting worse. We talked our way into the United lounge and hunkered down. Our flight back to Shopping Mall ended up being delayed by over 5 hours. When we did get airborne the flight was a REALLY bumpy one-it did not help my attitude by knowing that our pilots looked both like very young guys-made me wonder how many hours they had between them, 5-600 perhaps. Not as reassuirng as that might have once been.
They got us home though and I got back to work yesterday. The process of digging out has begun. The agency I work with is going through some big changes and the powers that be are trying to anticipate them-everyone knew they were coming, but its still interesting to watch people deal with them. I should be somewhat concerned for myself I guess-but I’m not. Whatever happens is going to happen. I’ll just take one day at a time and stay fixed on my personal goal. I do need to buy a frame for my mission statement. I’ve got a spot picked out for it above my monitor here.
Its early this morning, but I could not get back to sleep. So I thought I’d get up and answer e-mails, I was supposed to do last night-when I fell asleep on the couch.
I’ve not been blind to the events that have gone on in India last week-and the appointments of Obama’s security team yesterday. I’ve got some ideas and opinions on that, as well as the recent snark from some about “victory” in Mesopotamia. But I want to close the book on the trip first. To do that I’ve got to recharge my laptop and move some pix for you to see this evening. I’m going to put all of them up on a Flickr account as well. Link to follow.
Regarding India-more to come-but I would caution anyone who draws long term conclusions about this attack and the so called global Islamic threat. I personally believe that this has some unique, Indian, causes to this particular escapade-and that the danger it could escalate into a war between India and Pakistan is real. The German paper I brought back with me had a pretty graphic article about a woman who had lost her husband in the attack. (“Mein Mann starb im Bombay Terror”-despite my clumsiness with the spoken German, I can read it pretty well).
Time to go change and go to work this morning. Bills are not going to pay themselves you know and Tuesday’s start early each week. Too damn early if you ask me, but the schedule is set by the slave masters in DC. My crackberry is buzzing to tell me so. ( I did not ask for one-but the powers that be thought it would be a good idea).
I did more eating than I should have this trip. (Also consumed copious amounts of my favorite food group-beer). Dinners on these trips with the S.O. are always an event I kind of dread-not because I don’t like eating with her, its just that getting her to decide on a place to ear is always an ordeal. She just can’t reconcile the fact that time also has value, and sometimes you cannot eat a great, unique, meal at fast food prices. Her desire for tasty food, often cannot be reconciled with her nagging obsession with price.
Now its not that I am against saving money. But when you are on vacation and want to experience new and different things-it takes some time to find a place that is both good and inexpensive. Especially if you have been doing the tourist thing for a while all day-which usually places you in a location that is not conducive to good cheap eats. So I try to do copious amounts of research to find places that meet the bill-only to have my hopes dashed when we get to the location and she decides its “too smoky” or “its a drinking place”. (She says that like that’s a bad thing). Vienna was particularly frustrating in this regard- we passed on several really intriguing places due to the “smoky/drinky place” routine. And since it was starting to rain-it was not doing much for my humor-to say the least.
Which is why I was doubly suprised that in Prague-she agreed to go into this place we stumbled onto-Parlimentu-on our last night in Praha. It was smoky and it had a lot of people drinking. (Like there is something wrong with that………). It also had some really good food:
It was onion soup-but with a better flavor!
It was more of a bar than a resteraunt proper-and its menu was fairly typical of the tourist offerings that advertised “Czech food”-but I thought on the whole it was quite good. At least the steak with pepper sauce tasted good:
The S.O. had something vegetarianey-seemed mostly rice to me-but it had good flavor:
Whatever tickles your fancy.
We split the sour cream on cucmber salad-as was normal for just about all of our Prague meals this trip:
Too much sour cream if you ask me-but still good.
We skipped dessert-we already had that earlier. With a view.
A really good view!
See! Mili is not the only one who takes cameras with her to dinner!
While I was gone, my Amazon order came! (It was supposed to have been here before we left). Besides buying this book:
Which I have been meaning to read for a while now-and has applicability to the country’s current situation. There were also two CD’s for the S.O. and finally, something for me-a stroll back into my ancient past:
I loved that album and have not heard it in a long time-mainly because I did not have it on CD and the vinyl (plus a means to play it)-went bye bye a long time ago.
One of the good things about where we live now is that the mornings are simply glorious when the weather and the Almighty cooperate. That makes my drive to work sometimes glorious too-especially in the S.O.’s car with six cylinders of fine German technology purring like a kitten.
Yesterday was such a day-at least till I got to the parking lot. A glorious morning, clear sky, and color in the hills. In the middle of it all, me, with the speakers turned up and listening to this:
Jerusalem and the all three Karn Evil #9 tracks are my favorites on that album.
In my high school days I never realized that the hymn, which was written by William Blake in 1804 as a Preface to his work, Milton-is now somewhat contriversial. I read somewhere that it was popular during the inter-war years as a symbol of the British Empire-and even today is still popular as an “unofficial anthem” of Great Britain.
All I really know is that-while cresting over a hill and seeing the outstretched straightaway of road ahead, with the mountains that shelter the Tennessee Valley out on the horizon, basked in the clear sunlight of a beautiful clear winter’s day-I can feel, for just a brief period of time, as master of all I see. King of MY little empire. Instead of just another faceless, nameless, man walking government corridors. And that’s a great feeling indeed.
Sometimes you just have to live within the moment.
While I thoroughly loved Vienna and am ready to go back-Prague had to be the highlight of the trip.
It started with dinner the night we arrived:
Our hotel had a wine restaurant in the basement-some what pricey, but we were really not in the mood to venture far afoot and it was late. So we said, “Why not?”
I am not a Naval Academy graduate and I am quite proud of that fact. However when the Army Navy game approaches I always root for Navy. This year is no different:
Life is good-and it will be especially fun to see the chagrined faces on Monday morning at work.
Where I live, it is considered a sacrilege not to worship at the altar of SEC Football. Thus I was not surprised when the local fish wrapper here had not one word-NOT ONE SINGLE WORD-about the Army Navy game in it on Saturday morning.
Lots of columns about Alabama was going to beat Florida though.
The dues to the US Naval Institute are paid up, that it is. Yet, once again yours truly gets slighted-so that they can promote the work of some other semi-popular bloggers. Sounds to me, like they need someone to balance out the force.
Of course, if they did-who knows, it might lead to an embarrassing moment like this:
For the most part, I have been impressed with the cabinet appointments President Elect Obama has made. His more liberal supporters are disappointed he did not appoint Kool-aid drinkers, but by seeking to have a cabinet that is at the same time inclusive and broadly based, he showing that he takes this little undertaking seriously. One of his best picks was to keep Secretary Gates on at Defense. Gates has shown how truly horrid, Donald Rumsfeld was as a SECDEF, and the past two years with Gates at the helm have been a tonic after over 5 years of Rummy’s buffoonery.
Gates has signaled however, that he is prepared to make some changes at the levels below him. I sure hope so-there’s a couple of people who are long past their shelf life-one guy in particular who should have been exiled a long time ago. Of course, I am talking about my favorite punching bag, and overall evil Pentagon henchman, Dr. David Chu.
Dr Chu’s sins are long and heinous. I’ve tried to chronicle the worst of them here. Soon, if all goes well-he will back at the Rand Corporation where he can only write about screwing active duty and veterans over-instead of actually doing it.
It really is time for the “Stingy Man” to go away. Gates should not only tell Chu that he is no longer welcome in the Pentagon-he should publicly fire him before January 20th-so as to send a statement that this new administration means what it says about keeping promises to the troops.
The appointment of Gen Shinseki to be VA Secretary that is.
I have no doubt that he will do a good job as VA Secretary, but I’m not reading into it the same kind of political vindictiveness that most of the media has. There are several reasons for this.
1) Shinseki was right about the number of troops required for Iraq. However the famous interview with Congress, for which he is credited with incredible foresight? is not so clear cut. He was right about needing several hundred thousand troops for Iraq-but as I was watching the actual tape, I can’t help but walk away with the conclusion that he thought he was saying something that was self evident. I’m not so sure that had he known Rumsfeld was going to throw him under the bus-whether he would have said it or not. Its not as clear cut as the media makes it out to be.
2) Shinseki was not “fired”-which is the popular description of his leaving. He served a full term as Army Chief of Staff and it is very rare for a service chief to serve longer than 4 years. (Vern Clark-please make a note of this). What was unusual was the naming of a successor 14 months out-and the utterly rude and unprofessional gesture on the part of Rumsfeld by not attending his retirement ceremony. This was an intentional slight and a foremost sign of disrespect directed toward Shinseki by the civilian leadership.But then again this was Rumsfeld-class was never exactly in his bag of tricks.
3) Shinseki’s tenure as Chief of Staff had some very mixed results. He did successfully stave off some incredibly short sighted cuts by Rummy, Wolfwitz, and the other sycophants. At the same time he led the Army down a rat hole with the Crusader program.
Then there is the whole deal with those damn berets. Ask a Ranger what they think about that-be prepared for some profanity.
Furthermore, if Obama really wanted to send a big “fuck you” to Bush and his former cronies in the Pentagon-he would have made Shinseki Army Secretary or put him in the DOD/ National Security establishment. VA Secretary is mere window dressing. The budget for the VA will not increase as much as it should-and if certain boneheads remain at DOD, they will fight increases for veterans benefits at every opportunity.
So, lets reward the man for being willing to serve-but one should not read more into it than is really there.
The first video is a Danish commercial for washing machines that is actually quite funny-even with the nudity. ( And those are some really nice body parts!). The second video contained no nudity, had been reviewed, and even seen by the “star” herself. It was enough to make Shortney explode though.
Yesterday we went to my company’s Christmas party. An OK affair-save for the fact that with one exception, none of us work in the same place-we simply have the distinction of having the same employer. Who in every case handles every thing related to our care and feeding in a different city than this one. Suffice it to say, it makes for some repeated introductions.
But on the other hand-it was a good dinner.
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I have a lot of things on my mind, but strangely, I’m finding it hard to get the wherewithal to sit down and type it out. I’m beginning to wonder if my passion is beginning to burn out. Indy has a theory about how blogs go in cycles-and recent days have made me wonder if he is not right. Have I hit the limit of my passion for written expression? Maybe.
Or it could just be that I have hit the limit of time available-and that for tonight at least-I’d rather channel my efforts into convincing the S.O. that I need a different outlet for my passion. Lately it seems there are not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do-or need to do. Work has been extremely busy, which is both good and bad. Its good because I am learning a lot-and bad because some of the things I am learning are things I wish I hadn’t. They just add to my disillusionment.
Sometimes the truth is better off unheard.
We’ll see if I end up watching Sports Center in an hour or so………………….
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Along the same lines of channeling passion, it is interesting that Spike found this little tidbit in Wanchai:
Rather blunt-but, like the auto bailout, a neccessary option.
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The auto bailout perplexes me in a whole lot of ways. I can’t help but think about the auto companies put themselves in this position-but at the same time, I sure as hell am not of a mind to see the economy get any worse. And I suspect that GM or Chrysler going down is not going to be good for the herd-if for no other reason for all the companies they will take down with them.
Still, its not like cars won’t be built in America if they do-and those cars will be built by Americans. Toyota, BMW, Nissan and the others all grasped that lesson a long time ago. So there is a part of me that is fine with them going into Chapter 11. Something will rise from the ashes. And besides, America needs to wake up and smell the coffee about its love affar with the automobile. Alternate forms of travel need to be out there and most Amercian cars-especially here in Shopping Mall-are just too damn big. ( Gotta be able to pull that boat you know!).
On the other hand though-the current attempts by some Senators to paint the whole blame on the unions-and in the process protect the workers in their “right to work” states is somehow, more than a little unseemly. I mean think about it-the company negotiated those agreements with the unions-it should be up to the company to drive home a deal with wage givebacks if need be. How much is it a conflict of interest for Senators from Southern States to be trying to enhance the profitability of foreign auto companies by openly colluding with those foreign auto companies to drive down the wages of American workers. Even if that’s a big part of holding down their costs.
Plus, I was shocked to see Ben Stein say on Larry King what we all should be thinking-why do we have plenty of money to take care of Arabs who will screw us in the end, but we don’t have the means to take care of Americans who work in America and pay real American taxes?
Well I think what happened was that the Republicans were sick of the bailout and they were also sick of the idea that the autoworkers had voted Democrat so many times and turned Michigan into an entirely Democratic state and they’re also a little envious on behalf of the constituents of the way—the imaginary super wage benefit legacy cause.
But I think they made a terrible and unpatriotic mistake. We’re teetering on the brink of a depression. We can ship money to Iraqi warlords in giant cargo planes. We ship money all over the world. We can’t ship it to help our own people? We can ship it to Goldman Sachs and rescue people that get $100 million a year but we can’t rescue an autoworker and his family? That’s crazy.
STEIN: But it is going to do a lot to deal with the onrushing depression business. That’s the problem. The problem isn’t the about business model of GM has failed. We know its failed. The business model of Goldman Sachs has failed. We’ve got a lot of failed business models.
What we are having is an onrushing depression. We have got to stop it now. We have got to have a government contra-cyclical action that stops it. If we fall off a cliff into depression, it will be so much worse than any of the bailout costs. You cannot imagine it. You do not want to let this go into Great Depression.
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STEIN: I absolutely agree, absolutely right. The government shoved tens of billions of dollars down the throats of banks who said, we don’t even want it. Now Detroit and the workers there who are decent Americans are begging for it. For gosh sake, let’s do the right thing
So in the end I guess I come down in favor of doing something. Like our friend above, in the sober light of day you know going with her is not the best thing in the long run. But in the short term, she satisfies a need; makes you feel better; and probably provides something that the “proper” course of action will never get you to.
So come on baby, lets go upstairs and get in taxi-so I can give you a bailout in the morning.
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The S.O. asked me a couple of weeks ago if we could listen to music with our dinner and leave the TV off during dinner. In Japan this was never a problem because you could not see the TV from the kitchen table. Here you can. I agreed to do it though-and now after two weeks, I’m appreciating the wisdom of her suggestion. Its kind of nice and we do talk. So far the music has either been Christmas music or Botti. Its worked out well so far-except like tonight where she was putting dinner on with 3 minutes left to go in the Steeler game and they were in the middle of a great comeback- but I’m hoping to convince her to branch out in terms of musical choices. Hopefully it will take less negotiation than this:
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Speaking of throwing things-its still nice to see the President making friends over there in that that nation that was so critical to our success in the Middle East:
Interesting that the guy was actually able to get the shoe airborne-says a lot about Iraqi security doesn’t it?
Then again, I wonder how many American reporters have wanted to do that-but jail was never on the list of experiences they wanted to try.
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And finally, under the category of really making me depressed and longing to return to the other side of the dateline, I came across this cute little video over at Japan Probe:
If you have ever spent a Yuletide season in Tokyo you can appreciate a lot of what they are singing about.
I’m working on the return trip! In the meantime the bills won’t pay themselves-so off to work I go tomorrow.
