I was actually quite surprised to see all of [...]]]> On Saturday night Mr. Orovan, Mr. Scott, and myself visited Munich’s Frühlingsfest (spring festival). The festival is “family friendly” and had a large number of rides, skill games, food stands, and other ways to spend your money. It also had a couple of beer halls/tents.

I was actually quite surprised to see all of the rides. And they were mostly cheesy rides, like ones you would find at the old Lake Ontario Park or Kingston Family Funworld. Bumper cars, tea cups, big swings are examples of the rides we saw. One ride was particularly interesting to us: a “big splash” water ride. This ride was Canadian themed, complete with Canadian flags, a lumberjack operator, and a Canadian mural.

Not even the Canadian themed ride could convince us to part with our Euros, so we made our way into one of the beer halls. The building was packed with people; half of the people were standing on their tables dancing to the remixed-dance music, while the other half were crammed into their tables with 1L beer glasses in hand. I remember hearing a Eurodance version of Cotton-Eyed Joe (possibly the Rednex version). We surveyed the hall to find a place to sit, but ended up leaving due to a lack of vacancy. Also, they required us to throw out our carton of milk before entering.

We found another beer garden with a beer hall that was not quite as busy. As a bonus it had more traditional music, including a live band. The band would play a song or two, then take a break for a drink before playing another couple of songs. The band included the use of the giant wooden horn that you stereotypically associate with old German music, and of course were wearing lederhosen. Here we consumed some chicken, obatzter, and a giant pretzel…not to mention the few litres of beer that Orovan and Scott put down.

When we left the hall, the rides that previously appeared childish were suddenly very appealing. In particular a frisbee ride caught our attention (named Goetzke). We went on this ride twice–the second time being the last ride of the night. Between rides we went for a spin on a small go-kart track, which was particularly humorous given the amount of beer consumed. We were surprised that no restraints or helmets were used.

We left the festival when it shut down, just before midnight, concluding a full and exciting day in Munich.

Completely explicably, I have nothing for breakfast and I have to drive to work this morning (versus taking the tram). I have something like 6 Euros in my wallet and my tram pass has expired. Said pass is €44.50 monthly for the “zwei waben” pass that [...]]]> Inexplicably, I am feeling very tired this morning.

Completely explicably, I have nothing for breakfast and I have to drive to work this morning (versus taking the tram). I have something like 6 Euros in my wallet and my tram pass has expired. Said pass is €44.50 monthly for the “zwei waben” pass that I buy.

Tomorrow I am travelling to München so I will delay buying said pass until Wednesday. It’s a there-and-back trip tomorrow, which should be exhausting and will mean for an early morning start.

It is exciting to me to think that perhaps by the time my next tram pass expires I may be able to comfortably bicycle to work. Certainly I will be approaching the time when I would get the motorcycle out were I in Canada.

I watched the Daytona 500 last night and it was awesome. Jeff Gordon’s car had a camber issue which prevented him from taking the win, but it didn’t stop him from trying. Kenseth won; good for him.

Each work day I look forward to my friends joining me online at approximately 3 p.m. local time as they start arriving to work. Today is Family Day in Ontario, which should affect that schedule, and their continued availability. I am sure I will get through the day just fine, though it is truly something for me to look forward to.

I am quite pleased still to have the debts from my Canadian visit taken care of, though I am slightly anxious about the costs that I have already incurred for the upcoming European tour with Katy. Even though the costs are extremely reasonable. For about $265 I have: a flight to London, high-speed train to Paris, high-speed train to Karlsruhe, and 2.5 nights in a hostel(!) paid for. In all, I think this is quite amazing but the slight anxiety I have about it is evidence as to why I don’t travel much.

I watched 3.5 movies this weekend and will likely finish the .5 (Choke) tonight. The three I completed included a funny-enough comedy that turned into a bit of a love-story that may or may not have had a very sweet ending.

I attended a Wii party this weekend where I sang along to some Rock Band songs. I scored 100% singing Blink 182’s “All the Small Things” because of my natural talents. Attendees included both a goth and a ginger amongst the rest of us normals.

I ate some “frikadellen” this weekend.

“Say it ain’t so, I will not go, turn the lights off, carry me home.”