Schulte's Hotel Du Vin Kaiserslautern

... legend of the Nibelungs goes back to the 5th century, and was recorded in a famous epic poem in the 12th or 13th century. The word Nibelungen is transferred from a legendary race of Germanic dwarfs and their treasure, to the followers of Siegfried, and finally to the Burgundians which are portrayed in the poem. I believe I might have enjoyed this museum had I been alone, or with other literature nerds like me. But I was with medical doctors who have no background in ...

... early-morning walks have been the go-to thearpy.

Every morning this past week, Dante and I have arisen a little earlier than usual to walk down the street to the bike path, where our morning walk commences. Normally, the fog blankets the sun in an attempt to lull it back to sleep, hindering me from knowing if it's 7 or 10 in ...

... with the animals until sometime on Saturday.

Today I signed up for the Mountaineer Gym, a big exercise center on post. I see they have yoga class for FREE!!! so you'd better believe I'll be doing that. Lots of good classes for free. Okay, back to the dissertation. Enjoy the photos!

... two bathrooms, a sizeable kitchen, dining room, a large living room, a separate laundry room, a utility room (workshop), and a wine cellar. Soon I will also be able to park my car indoors, in an old barn. right now there is a tractor in there, but not for long. The rooms and amenities are very modern, but there is an old-world charm to parts of the house, as well. I will post photos soon, but for now, just enjoy these four.

... all so delicious I had to sample each one twice to finally decide. I could only buy one bottle at $8.50 a piece or I would have bought two or three of them. I decided on jalapeno sauce, which was a 6 out of 10 on the heat meter. The habanero was 10 out of 10 and it was actually pretty hot, but not 10-out-of-10 hot, I'd say. It did burn my tongue, though, and that takes some serious heat to do.

Anyway, on our way back to the car we decided to try the vendors' foods ...

... zu hochalpinen Zonen.

- in Australien dürfen in den Hostels keine Daunenschlafsäcke verwendet werden. Diese bieten nämlich der Bettwanze optimale Wohn- und Fortpflanzungsbedingungen! Wenn überhaupt, darf man lediglich Schlafsäcke aus Kunstfasern benutzen. Zum Glück habe ich diesen Eintrag bei reisebine.de noch eine halbe Stunde vor meinem Einkaufstrip in den Outdoorladen gelesen!

- Australien gilt als der „giftigste“ Kontinent überhaupt. Haie und Krokodile geh ...

... how close I was. I hopped off jolly to the trainstation that I had been to so many times before: Landstuhl. The train to Kaiserslautern was running often and it cost 2.00EUR, so I jumped at it. At the ticked machine I became the impromptu information point officer for all the American soldiers who couldn't work out how to use the machine to buy a ticket. They were all going to Bad Durkheim, where the biggest wine festival in Europe was happening. Getting into ...

I might get on a flight to Baltimore today. I am real close. I around 100 or so on the list and there are 108 seats or something on the flight. I'll probably make it home in the next two days for sure. If I don't make it today I will go to Luxembourg on a day trip. The base here is definitely a little slice of America inside of Europe.

... into German: it just doesn't work anymore...George's voice was so bad and it just confused me. I will sing the praises of dubbing in one instance and one instance along: The Nanny. This show is the bane of television for the entire history of the technology and the fact that they can't find a German woman annoying enough to copy Fran's voice, means that it is vaguely tolerable - you can have it playing in the background while doing something ...

... where the British fans were camped out, but this group was in it for the fun. The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. Both sides ran through their litany of songs, cheers and insults. The less said about the penalty call at the end of the game the better. Several Italians apologized for the way they snuck out the win. Even after the game the Aussies were in party mode. The next morning we made our way home down the Rhine river, stopping ...