After the McDrive

The Einfahrt....definition: What you are left with after you go through the McDrive.

And now time for something funny!

Human bodies in slaughterhouse-Bad Kissigen

So, I hear that the human body show is in Bad Kissigen. I really need to go see this show, I heard in L.A. there were terrible long lines and crowds to see the show. Melissa drops me off one morning she had to work, and tells me it is quite controversial in Bad Kissigen, because the building they are having the show in is an old slaughterhouse. How appropriate dead bodies, dead carcasses. I go in and there is a really wierd smell, I cannot describe it....that is the first thing that strikes me....now I don't think it's the bodies, it must be the building. I look for traces of the slaughter...ugh it gives you a very wierd, gross, uncomfortable feeling that so many animals died here. It is empty, there is no one here....good. The walls are painted black, and the bodies, pieces, etc are all en-cased in plastic display cases. It is wierd....yet so fascinating. Being an art major I did study muscles,ligaments, etc. in human drawing classes. So this is what Michaelangelo studied when he would use dead bodies and cut them up. It doesn't gross me out as much as I thought it would. It is fascinting to say the least. They had one body that was laid out and sliced in half inch deli meat slices...satrting at the feet all the way from the top of the head down, cross sections sliced all the way through. It was in a long plastic case roughly about 26-28 feet long....so if you were put in a slicer you would be very , very tall...ha! There is a head that has been cut in half so you see the sinus cavity, brain stem, half the throat etc...pretty enlightening.....the one thing tat does bother me is the fat asian guy with the eyelashes....something about him is just very creepy, takes you away from the science of it and keeps you more to the creepy side of things.....just wierd vibes really. I go out of the building after I read that, yes, I can donate my body to them and turn right to walk down the street to..... Mc Donald's...haa haaa I had seen it next door before coming in.

Smart car, smart German

The tiny Mercedes new smart car! Why don't we have these in Los Angeles.?????

Some pics of Bamburg...

We decide to walk off the potato bombs in our stomach, and head downtowm Bamburg. What a treat this is. Walt Disney must have come to Bamburg for inspiration. I could stay in this town for awhile. It is charming, storybook Germany. So hot, we decide to stop for ice gream....yes, on top of the potato bombs. With all the walking we are doing we are not holding on to all the calories. It is the first Italian gelato place of many I will visit while in Europe. Ice Cream as some of you well know, holds a dear place in my heart. The day in Bamburg was so wonderful, getting to visit with relatives, new food, and lots of fabulous mental images some I hope to have captured.

Potato bombs at the beer garten in Bamburg

These magical potato bombs....what can I say. So Sunday is a good day for a beer garden. Melissa and I drive to Banburg to see the family, Lauren, Tom, and Jonathan, and we all decide to go to a beer garden. It is a lovely outdoor picnic like atmosphere, there is a swingset at the back where children are playing. It was hot, and the picnic long tables where shady and cooler because of all the wonderful trees. So Melissa gets me a plate. It has potato bombs gravy and beef. So I get it, I understand the meat and potato diet, this is my family meal....thanks to my grandma. She was the meat and potato queen, so this is where she got it, hearty German countryside cookin'. The potato bombs, Tom tells me are potato mashed and then put through a ricer several times, they are so soft and seem to be held together with glue, something kind of rubbery on the outside. I feel them settling around my mid-section and accept that German potato ball belly of mine. These things are absolutly divine, and Jonathan laps them up. This is the perfect baby first food. Thick starchy take a long nap food. Well, pickie me dives in and after I shove glorious hunks of beef and gravy in my mouth, I finally come up for air. The beef is so tender and you can taste the wine that has been seeped into it. The gravy I would like spread on my body when I die. I understand the beer garden now, it is family tradition, good food, home made, families chat, kids play, people, drink beer and talk, it's just not the rowdy drunk fest you always see at Oktoberfest. It is a fantastic afternoon, and I feel so lucky to have these people in my life. Jonathan keeps skol-ing Tom, it is so cute!

Hotei gets a massage

O.K. so I had the most unbelievable massage at this place in Bad Kissigen. What is even wierder is the massage therapists are all Asian, but speak German! So unusual, it kind of throws you off. It reminds me of sitting on the beach in Barbados, a rasta black guy comes up selling beads, and he says" Excuse me madame" in the strongest British accent you have ever heard. It gives you a double-take and then you realize that your preconceived ideas are wrong, and should be loosened up. We all do it when meeting people, we make assumptions. So this massage was the most incredible pounding I have ever had. The chair was a big red velvet thrown that did things, convertible things, arms moved, backs went down, legs up....they could market the chair! I fell in love with this place, I left like a wet noodle.

A journal of a good dog!

This is a homage to Chelsea, a wonderful golden, and a walk Melissa and I did with the dogs in the German forest. Chelsea ready to go, but only in the front seat.