Recent travels

[Ancalagon]

I have returned!

Me and the Better Half just spent 12 days exploring and experiencing parts of Germany and The Netherlands. Much fun was had, excellent food & drink consumed, many miles walked, great sights were seen, good people were met, a few hassles occurred, and many things were learned.

From the time we awoke to depart Omaha to when we could finally crash in Stuttgart, we had been going for 35 hours. That was a bit rough. Heh. We slept for 12-13 hours! Took a couple of days to fully shake off the jet lag.

I didn't have a bad meal or beer the entire time. The quality was excellent. The chocolates and pies were all delicious. No corn syrup added to anything like is done in 'Murica. Every beer I tried was a winner. No crap, substitute ingredients like corn, rice, and corn syrups used as is done in 'Murica. American beers may have been ruined for me after enjoying the excellent options in Germany!

[Necron 99]

Glad to hear it was an overall great vacay, and doubly so for the awesome food and spirits. It really is a shame that 'Murica is so dead set on killing it's consumers through the use of cheap substitutes, all in the name of making more money for their pockets.

[Ancalagon]

Glad to hear it was an overall great vacay, and doubly so for the awesome food and spirits. It really is a shame that 'Murica is so dead set on killing it's consumers through the use of cheap substitutes, all in the name of making more money for their pockets.

TROO DAT!

During the first week we stayed with a couple Lisa knows. They live at the edge of one of the villages that comprise Stuttgart. There were numerous bakeries, small cafes, larger restaurants, beer / wine shops, ice cream parlors, etc. throughout the village. The smells were amazing! Here in Bellevue we have shit like McD's, KFC, Taco Hell, Dunkin' Donuts, Fazoli's, Long John Silver's, Subway, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Just absolute garbage to eat.

One of the meals I had in the village one evening after an afternoon of Lisa and I exploring on our own was a swabian cheese spaetzle with three kinds of cheese and steamed onions dish that was particularly good. I intend to find a recipe for it an try my hand at making it myself. During the second week, on our first night in Cologne, I had a dish of blood sausage over mashed potatoes topped with caramelized onions and apple sauce and a spicy brown mustard with a horse radish kick to it on the side. The apple sauce had small chunks of apple in it as opposed to puree we get in 'Murica. It was really good!

After a couple of weeks visiting, I think I need to improve my game with regard to learning to prepare new / different dishes.

[Necron 99]

Yeah man, that sounds like quite a good trip, indeed. Here in N. Florida, we have the usual fast food joints for sure, but in Fernandina proper, on the island, there are a variety of non-traditional places to eat. Some are small chains, like Cantina Louie, a Mexican restaurant that we love to visit. I'm not sure how many other locations there are aside from one or two down in Jax, but it's my choice for Mexican around here, hands down. There are several seafood places which isn't surprising considering the location, we have an Italian restaurant, a few southern and BBQ locales, a couple custom pizzerias, some small sandwich cafes, a nice diner for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, a Cuban shop, fudge and chocolate shop, a really good bakery, plenty of pubs and breweries, and even a place that serves authentic Korean cuisine.

Definitely not as awesome as Europe, but beats the general fast food and national chains, most places have. Definitely look into trying to replicate foreign meals, it shouldn't be too hard as long as everything you need is available at a local grocery store. I've been wanting to cook my own Thai dishes, because I love the hot/spicy Thai that I get from restaurants around here. Getting the actual Thai spice usually means ordering off the internet, local places just don't seem to carry anything.

[Ancalagon]

Some notes about Germany:

Population is 83.24 million as of 2020.
The nation is 138,065 square miles.

By way of comparison, the most populous US state is CA at 39.61 million.
CA is 163,696 square miles.

The states closes to Germany WRT land area are New Mexico at 121,365 at square miles and Montana at 145,556 square miles.

There are A LOT of folks in the cities. Many of them ride bicycles, walk, and/or take trains to get about. Cyclists have just as much a right to cross roads as motorists. There are usually separate lanes established for cyclists so they aren't slowing traffic flow.

Once you get off the highways, the streets tend to be smaller / narrower. Many of them allow for parking on one side of the street leaving enough room for one-way travel so there is some give and take required for cars traveling towards each other to get around. I saw virtually no litter on the streets.

With that being said, there is a lot of well-maintained countryside with fields and trees. Some of the fields have flowers planted, others have grape vines or another type of crop.

[Ancalagon]

The Better Half and I visited 2 castles while abroad. Both were cool and will definitely find their ways into future campaigns.

Castle Lichtenstein


This link goes to a tourist's page where they took some cool pics. http://sarahgerdes.com/lichtenstein-castle-german/

Muiderslot castle

[Ancalagon]

I recently saw a post on the Friends of Harn FB page that had a short video of Schloss Lichtenstein. I started remembering and missing my visit there almost 2 years ago.

I found a few more cool videos of Schloss Lichtenstein so check them out. Good stuff!

This one is from 2014 when photos were still allowed inside the actual residence portion of the castle. And I think I now know which House of my "Nine Houses" campaign idea will use Lichtenstein as its basis as its seat of power....





Me and Better Half walked all of the paths, roads, bridge, and some of the rooms seen in the videos. I must return with the Better Half to Germany and other countries of Europe to explore!