While all of you were worrying and complaining about your NCAA brackets, I was busy doing other things that were far less depressing.
On Wednesday, most of the ND students got together and threw a St. Patrick's Day party/dinner that couldn't be beat. Sadly, no one over here really knows that March 17th is a holiday, and they go to work/school/the gas station/therapy SOBER instead of being completely drunk for the entire day. So, in order to show the Europeans how it's done, we made some soda bread, stew, cookies, fried potatoes, and some other tasty stuff that I don't remember at the moment. The potatoes were my idea, and while it was suggested that it may have been more appropriate for us to serve boiled potatoes in typical Irish fashion, it was also suggested that we should probably serve food that tastes good, since we were throwing a party. So we took over the first floor kitchen, packed it full of people, and had a good old time. The Polizei may or may not have been called. That's all I should probably tell you.
Distinguished ND trumpet alum Charlie Vogelheim was visiting for the week, and on Thursday we went out with him to Stiftskeller, the same place that I took Mike Carter on the previous weekend. Thinking of the tiny bubbles made me feel queer. (<- INSIDE JOKE)
On Saturday, Jonathan and I took a day trip to Munich. We hopped on the 7:30 train out of Innsbruck and got to Munich at around 9:30. We then proceeded to walk around rather aimlessly through Olympiapark on our way to the BMW headquarters. We stopped for an hour and a half at a German garage sale, which wasn't a garage sale so much as a giant collection of people who drove their cars out to the park and set up tables to sell their old crap. It was fun looking at all of the old German stuff for sale. I thought that we might be able to find some really cool souvenirs, but we mostly just found old stuffed animals, clothes, and random figurines and such. We ended up purchasing a used knife set for 4 euro. Also at Olympiapark:
Nuthin' but a G Thang
In the afternoon we took a guided tour of the BMW Museum, which lasted an hour and a half and was totally awesome. There were amazing cars and motorcycles everywhere. Here's just one of them:
Pierce Brosnan drove this exact vehicle during the filming of Goldeneye
We capped off the day by going to the Paulaner brewery for Starkbierfest, which means Strong Beer Party for all of you who need that sort of help. The beer was strong, the pretzels were huge, the women were dirndl'd, and people were dancing on tables. 'Nuff said.
On the train ride home, Jonathan and I shared a compartment with a South Korean guy who was visiting a bunch of friends in Europe and an Italian economist and economics professor who was returning home after a conference in Munich. English was once again the language of choice. We continue to meet new and exciting people from all walks of life in various random situations, and most of the time these new and exciting people speak English with a fair degree of competency.
Today I went skiing with Per, one of our Swedish friends from Rössl. Conditions at Kühtai were less than ideal; it was mostly cloudy, the snow was a bit slushy and sticky, and at around 3:30 it actually started raining. We knew the season was coming to an end, and so we wanted to go one last time, and despite the mediocre conditions, we got in a great day of skiing. On one of the lifts we met a nice German lady who lives on the Nordsee. It was refreshing to speak actual German with an actual German, instead of mincing dialect with a Tiroler.
All in all, a great way to say goodbye to old man winter. Celebrate with me by watching some Germans sing a silly song about the coming of spring!
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