random quarter

one. munich is lovely. it's so clean. the weather was perfect. there seemed to be a great sense of community in the people there. it's got great architecture.

two. i'd expected dachau to feel chilling, oppressive and haunted throughout. i was only chilled when we approached the camp and at the gate. inside the main building, i grieved, but not nearly as much as i'd expected. outside on the camp's grounds, i felt an amazing peace, a great sense of forgiveness. i was surprised by this.

three. neuschwanstein is amazing. best castle ever. i loved it. it's a pain in the ass to get to it. really. HUGE pain in the ass. but the hike is beautiful, so that makes it okay. and inside, oh, the interior of that castle is incredible. the whole thing is a shrine to the works of richard wagner. every room was designed with one of his compositions in mind.

four. wagner never saw it. king ludwig the second, the man responsible for the thing, died before it was completed. he was deemed insane, though he'd never been officially diagnosed as such. the day after he was declared mad, he was found dead in a lake.

five. kamps bakeries in germany make the best sandwiches.

six. the beach at cannes looks remarkably like the beach at galveston, sans oil, of course. the waters near monaco are much prettier. nice has one of the best beaches i've ever seen. this could be because it's comprised of pebbles. i think california's malibu beach is the best. then megan's bay in st. thomas. but that one you have to pay to be on it. not cool.

seven. i liked france least of all. we saw more of it than germany or spain. figures.

eight. paris is ugly. REALLY, REALLY ugly. i hadn't expected that.

nine. there's an aqueduct in nimes, france that was built by the romans more than two thousand years ago. the french have taken really, really good care of it.

ten. one of the goals of the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization is to protect sites and structures designated as world heritage sites. there are nearly nine hundred sites and structures chosen. of those, i have seen the palace and park of versailles (though i only saw its exterior), pont du gard (that aqueduct i just told you about), the cathedral of notre dame in rheims (pictured in picky's previous post), the parisienne banks of the river seine, the papal palace in avignon, the fortified city of carcassonne, the works of antonio gaudi, westminster abbey, st. margaret's cathedral, the tower of london (only its exterior) and mesa verde national park. for the full list of world heritage sites, go here. for more information about unesco, go here.

eleven. i had never watched a major (and i emphasize major) sporting event in a bar until having taken this trip. my cousins and our tour guide watched spain defeat uruguay in a bar in barcelona. good times.

twelve. i liked france's countryside better than its cities. i liked spain's cities better than its countryside. i liked germany's countryside and cities equally.

thirteen. antonio gaudi is my favorite architect.

fourteen. i'd be more inclined to give a beggar money if he learned to play a musical instrument well enough that he could entertain passersby with a lovely melody.

fifteen. in spain, musicians camp out in subway corridors and on street corners and brighten up the environment with their tunes. the best example of this was a woman who was singing opera music outside the shops in madrid.

sixteen. i liked barcelona better than madrid. barcelona is a much more vibrant, social city. madrid has a lot of culture. it looks pretty enough on the surface, but it's not as pretty as barcelona.

seventeen. i've never had luck sleeping on planes. the last time i flew overseas, before this trip, i took two benadryl and two tylenol pm (not at the same time), and i still couldn't sleep. on the way over this time, i took the benadryl in the car on the way to the airport. i almost fell asleep at the gate. couldn't on the plane. on the way home, i didn't take anything. i did manage to fall asleep. yay! but the damned public address system woke me up when the pilot made some sort of announcement.

eighteen. i hate sinus infections. i get them with much more regularity. on the way home, on the flight from d.c. to houston, i got one. it's like i'm allergic to texas.

nineteen. that badass table i was showing off a while back, my mother gave it to my brother. i am not happy.

twenty. i understand why campbell's uses mm, mm good! as their slogan. today, i made chicken noodle soup. sitting at the old kitchen table, which now looks ridiculously little compared to the other (which is why mom gave the other away, because she'd thought it too big), i was so eager to get it in my mouth i said, mmm. imagine a baby jonesing for a bottle. i took a bite. mmm. good. and then i realized i'd just reinforced that slogan.

twenty-one. yes, i talk to myself. i think we've already established that i'm a little crazy, right?

twenty-two. oroweat one hundred percent wheat bread rounds are the best breads ever. yummy.

twenty-three. i got my copy of the unusuals on dvd today. YAY! i am so excited. i would watch the whole thing tonight, but my dad handed me a thirty-three page document to edit. yay.

twenty-four. i hate it when people spell yay incorrectly. yeah is pronounced yeh-ah. yea is pronounced yay. they are used to express agreement, not excitement. yeah and yea mean yes. yay means hot damn, that's awesome! put it in your funk and wagnall's.

twenty-five. according to imdb, the unusuals has a ranking of eight-point-two out of ten. i cannot fathom why abc would broadcast a show like detroit one-eight-seven rather than bringing the unusuals back from the dead. and don't give me this crap about how there's a reason it's dead. did you ever watch it? do you know who amber tamblyn and jeremy renner and adam goldberg are? you don't? amber tamblyn: joan of arcadia and the sisterhood of the traveling pants one and two. jeremy renner: the hurt locker. yeah. that film that won that oscar. adam goldberg: dazed and confused, how to lose a guy in ten days ... saving private ryan and a beautiful mind. two more films that won those oscars. you wanna watch an episode? email me. maybe i'll let you borrow my copy.