Sun, Jun 28th 2009, 11:21
So the fan mail has been pouring in, and you've all been asking for one thing:
More pictures of my cat!
People just can't get enough of my cat. "Forget beautiful sights in Europe," they say, "forget peoples' children, forget even you, Tessa! Give us more Penny!"
Well, I only live to serve, so as requested...
Penny is quite developed for the average house cat. She can even walk on her hind feet and give high fives.
She's also very health-conscious. She only eats the yellow pieces out of her dry food (because everyone knows yellow just tastes better), and she's decided to become a vegetarian (for the environment) by consuming all of the sauce in her wet food and leaving the meat behind. She's a real inspiration to cats all over the world.
In an on-going effort to discourage our unhealthy habits of eating junk food and drinking soda pop, Penny will destroy any of it on sight by knocking over sodas and smashing bags of chips to bits.
Some may try to explain away this extraordinary behavior by claiming that she is just a stupid cat who is amused by plastic straws.
But don't you listen to the skeptics, Penny. They just don't know you like I do.
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Thu, Jun 18th 2009, 03:18
I've always really liked my first name (thank you parents!), but my name is not at all common in Germany and most people think it sounds a bit strange. I found out why when I started shopping in various grocery stores here.
It's no wonder they think my name is strange if these are the type of products that might come to mind at the sound of it.
It's also fun to hear them pronounce my last name, and it's a dead give-away that I'm not German when they see it. "Frau Inrigt? Frau Inrigt?"
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Wed, Jun 17th 2009, 04:51
While shopping at Netto today I stumbled upon something special.
American Style Cheesburgers that are packaged and ready to eat after heating (other toppings not included).
Now for some reason the thought of eating a packaged hamburger does not really appeal to me. But I thought it was too amusing not to buy at the bargain price of 1.40 Euro.
I'm a bit concerned by the perception of American cuisine over here. It seems that anything gigantic, cheap and fast can be labelled as such.
Because we all know how stylish America is, I'm sure these American Style Cheeseburgers will be a big hit.
I've also been to a couple of American style restaurants here in Dresden. Mostly the menus consist of very large portions of burgers, steaks, fries, etc. The main thing they get wrong, however, is by giving you a huge mug of beer and a tiny glass of coke. To be authentic, it should be the other way around!
Visit 50% of my DNA for Funny Foto Freitag and other commentaries on cultural differences and life as an American expat in Germany.
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Thu, Jun 4th 2009, 08:57
After Lucerne, Switzerland we traveled north to Strasbourg France where I discovered a way to drink beer that isn't disgusting: a Monaco (two-thirds beer, one-third sprite, splash of grenadine).
Then we went to Antwerp, Belgium where our hostel was literally right next to the cathedral, and the bells were quite loud. But not as loud as the American kids staying next door.
We ended our road trip in Amsterdam with a boat tour and meeting one of Mike's friends Andrea for lunch.
Click here to see all of the photos from my parents trip to Europe.
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Sat, May 23rd 2009, 11:13
After enjoying Dresden and surrounding areas, we set off on our big road trip. First stop, Munich.
In Munich we visited the Viktualienmarkt, which is an open air market, and we enjoyed some fresh squeezed fruit juice.
We then headed to the Nymphemburg Palace and took a walk through the park.
The walk made us pretty thirsty, so we visited the Hirschgarten, which has the largest Biergarten in Munich. And lest you think that Hirschgarten is just a name, they also had deer there (Hirsch=deer in German).
The next day we visited Salzburg, Austria. We tried to hike up to the fortress of Salzburg, but got a little lost on the way. We stopped for drinks at a Biergarten with beautiful views of the city, and then decided we did not have enough time to make it to the fortress before they closed. But we had a good view of it for pictures. The scenery there was gorgeous and almost had me singing "The Sound of Music".
That Friday we stopped at Neuschwanstein on the way to our next destination. Neuschwanstein is the castle that inspired the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disney Land and is one of the top tourist destinations in Europe. Unfortunately, all of our good luck with weather decided to end and it was raining. Since we couldn't get a good picture of the castle, I have included a picture of how it usually looks. It was really interesting to see the inside of the castle and to hear the story of the king who built it.
Arriving in Lucerne, Switzerland that night we planned on meeting my old German language classmate Thomas, who is from the Netherlands, for dinner. We enjoyed a nice Italian dinner with him and a short walk along Lake Lucerne the next day before heading onto our next destination.
I have to admit I was very impressed with Bavaria, and the south in general. The scenery was really amazing and I'd like to go back sometime.
To view all of the photos from my parents' trip to Europe, please click here.
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