...was there when the Christmas Market Opened

I didn't really mean to be. I had volleyball (pickup) at the SportCentrum at 19Uhr. Franz had invited me earlier to see the ceremony because his elder son is part of the Domspatzen, one of the oldest choirs in Germany, and they were singing. But the show started at 6 and they said it would only take half an hour, leaving me another half hour to run back to the Uni, grab my stuff, and make it to vball.

I have to say that I was really impressed with that choir. I'm don't think I normally appreciate choral music (is that the right word?) but there were so many layers of harmony that it was very smooth. Well worth it. And as for the Market? I had heard it was over commercialized and not really worth it. I think it was fun, but I get a kick out of seeing these traditional things. And I like the Christmas season.

Tomorrow I get the keys to my new apartment. I'm so excited to be moving out of suburbia and into the real world. Some things about my current place that I like: I didn't have to set up internet, it's very quiet at night, and the bakeries nearby are good. Some things I didn't like: the walk to the university. The walk to town (goodbye, 4.5km hike while I'm drunk!). The 4EUR charge for laundry. The nearby supermarket -- with the shittiest hours possible and a selection that would rival a Canadian convenience store. The fact that it's in a half-basement (don't you hate making promises to yourself -- like, I'll never live in a basement apartment again -- and then having to reneg?). Okay, rant is over. Will post pics of the new apt soonish. Although I already have one sweet idea for something to hang on my wall -- it's a whiteboard on one side and a poster of some art on the other. This is something that should be sold somewhere.

...missed last week's blog post.

...because I was too drunk on Sunday. Remember, you don't need to drink to have fun. This was purely accidental on Saturday night because one thing just lead to another. I decided to try a bock beer for a party I was going to and then after the party we were going out for a drink and then friends invited me to a bar which turned into a private party...

We work hard but we party harder. Yes, those girls ARE doing the macarena. And that's me in the funniest clean-room outfit ever. It's got ear holes. (or is that normal?)

...didn't see Frankenstein

A few weeks ago I met a girl from Regensburg who's taking part in a play in Ingolstadt. Every Saturday she and her friend head over there for a few hours rehearsal. Ingolstadt had been recommended to me (BMD) and this was a good excuse to pop over. Bavaria has one-day Bayern tickets for 28€ that allow unlimited travel for up to five people, and so it was free for me (the theatre pays for the ticket).

I was too early for the Christmas market that takes place from next week on but the regular market, as shown, was hopping. Nearby were the beer stands. Ingolstadt has its own brew and they make an okay Weiß and Dunkel Weiß biers. As far as I can tell, the routine is to drive to the market with your husband, park the car, leave him near the beer stands, and go shopping.

The old town is all I wanted to see and it was small enough to walk through. Unfortunately the castle is only accessible via the Armory museum which is closed on Saturdays (?). But I managed to get some pictures around town and it was well worth a few hours visit.

"...can I say it tastes torch-y?"

"I think you mean smoky."

Two fun work-related non-academic things occured this week. The first was that I got my card for the Sportzentrum (Sports Centre). €20 gets you the card which, as far as I could tell, lets you access the swimming pool. For another €18 you get access to the indoor climbing wall, and there are other fees for using other parts of the gym including the pick-up rec games, the weight room, and the sauna. I paid €40 for the all-inclusive, and so far it's been fun with Thursday pick-up volleyball and Friday going climbing.

After climbing on Friday, some of us headed back to the lab for a cocktail party. I was really looking forward to a martini but cocktail referred to those fruity sweet cocktails, and after a few hours of those I had to turn back to beer. There were enough people to make it fun (although I'm not sure Franz was having a great time) and I got to meet the wives of Franz and Jasha as well as various girlfriends.

After most of the crowd had left, there was Anja (the mechanic), Toby (a PhD student of Jasha's), Flo (one of our Diploma students) and I sharing the last beers. They ran out and it was clear we were going to head off but I felt there was enough time to grab the bottle of Lagavulin from my office for one final drink. Toby suggested this might be akin to "pouring pearls on pigs" but I disagreed and (as per usual) still think I was right. Tobias was chatting to his girl and Anja was off while Flo and I were enjoying our glasses:

Flo: It has that...can I say it tastes torch-y?

Me: I think you mean smoky. Yah, it's pretty good.

Flo: It tastes like one from that Isla...

Me: Islay? Yah, it's an Islay.

Flo: Yes, it tastes similar to my favourite. Laphroaig. Have you ever had the quarter-cask strength?

Clearly we weren't pouring Lagavulin on pigs. Flo then suggested that next time we should enjoy some of the Laphroaig and Toby said he should have some people over to enjoy his favourite Gin sometime. It was a pretty sweet end to the night.

"...can I say it tastes torch-y?"

"I think you mean smoky."

Two fun work-related non-academic things occured this week. The first was that I got my card for the Sportzentrum (Sports Centre). €20 gets you the card which, as far as I could tell, lets you access the swimming pool. For another €18 you get access to the indoor climbing wall, and there are other fees for using other parts of the gym including the pick-up rec games, the weight room, and the sauna. I paid €40 for the all-inclusive, and so far it's been fun with Thursday pick-up volleyball and Friday going climbing.

After climbing on Friday, some of us headed back to the lab for a cocktail party. I was really looking forward to a martini but cocktail referred to those fruity sweet cocktails, and after a few hours of those I had to turn back to beer. There were enough people to make it fun (although I'm not sure Franz was having a great time) and I got to meet the wives of Franz and Jasha as well as various girlfriends.

After most of the crowd had left, there was Anja (the mechanic), Toby (a PhD student of Jasha's), Flo (one of our Diploma students) and I sharing the last beers. They ran out and it was clear we were going to head off but I felt there was enough time to grab the bottle of Lagavulin from my office for one final drink. Toby suggested this might be akin to "pouring pearls on pigs" but I disagreed and (as per usual) still think I was right. Tobias was chatting to his girl and Anja was off while Flo and I were enjoying our glasses:

Flo: It has that...can I say it tastes torch-y?

Me: I think you mean smoky. Yah, it's pretty good.

Flo: It tastes like one from that Isla...

Me: Islay? Yah, it's an Islay.

Flo: Yes, it tastes similar to my favourite. Laphroaig. Have you ever had the quarter-cask strength?

Clearly we weren't pouring Lagavulin on pigs. Flo then suggested that next time we should enjoy some of the Laphroaig and Toby said he should have some people over to enjoy his favourite Gin sometime. It was a pretty sweet end to the night.

...got out of Regensburg this weekend

So this weekend I met up with Thorsten and we drove out to his place for dinner. En route, we stopped at Walhalla, which is a building made to look like a Greek temple. Hopefully this link works to the photo album -- send me an email if you can't access it. The view from it was beautiful and the changing leaves brought me back to a trip that Ben, Will, Sara and I made outside Montreal last year.

Walhalla houses busts of famous Germans, and a new one is added every year. I think a measure of your German history could be how many of those people you could give a three-sentence description about. (For the record, I would fail.)

Nearby the Walhalla are ruins of an old fortress that was destroyed by the Swedes hundreds of years ago. There are plans to rebuild it but for now, it's pretty impressive.

The rest of the night consisted of about 700g of steak, potatoes, Winter Festbier, and shots of Wörthebitter. This is a drink that is sold (no lie) at a pharmacy. This must be a village joke (the village's name is Wörthe) that this is a medicine that will cure you of anything. For reference, it will NOT cure you in advance of a hangover. I stayed there the night and they kindly drove me back on Sunday.