Oktoberfest Revisited

Okay so I no this is kinda late, but I wanted to spend a quick second revisiting my Oktoberfest trip last month. As probably few of you remember, I promised more pictures once they came in. Well I have those, plus a special bonus link to Matt's blog (1 of the 3 proud Americans in the office, as well as the planner of this trip). He goes into much greater detail on the trip and also provides some very interesting Oktoberfest facts (like did you know that 30% of the Munich breweries annual production gets consumed during these 2 weeks...I know, crazy).

So to see the full album CLICK HERE.

To see Matt's blog entry CLICK HERE.

One picture I wanted to mention is this one of Matt and I after spending the day enjoying the various treats of Oktoberfest. Now I am not necessarily a big fan of displaying ah, passed out photos, but this one is pretty good:


Matt and his girlfriend Agnes were gracious enough to let me crash in there hotel room, which clearly I did. What you might notice on the right is that we carefully moved one of the mattresses to the floor and that was where I was going to sleep. But apparently that was too far to go so I slept on the wooden slats of the box spring. At some point in the morning I did move, and I will say the mattress was much more comfortable. Good times.

Like I said before, I can't wait for 2007 baby. And for those of you keeping track, I will have a posting up in a few days on my recently completed restful trip through Amsterdam and Barcelona. Cheers!

mmmm, real Belgian waffles....

The European tour continued this past weekend with a trip to Brussels. This stop was a bit special because after 8 years I was finally reunited with my host sister Catherine. For those of you that don’t know, way back in 1997 Cat came over from Belgium and lived with my family for a year to study English and party in Seattle. While I did not get to party much with her a lot since I was away at college, this weekend I got the chance to make up for lost time!

On Friday night I took off from Lux on the 2.5 hour drive to Brussels in the pouring down rain, but luckily I had a guide from work who I was hitching a ride with me and who used to work right by where Cat lives. Anyway, as soon as I got to Cat’s house we took off for a b-day party at her parents house. I had never met any of Cat’s family, but I was told they were a lot of fun and they did not disappoint. We had a amazing food, great drinks, and tons of laughs. Here’s Cat and her twin sister Virginie (Cat is on the right):

And here is the rest of The Dumont’s plus significant others and a cute little newborn (say hello to Lola):

To finish the night, I had a couple of ‘push cafes’ with Sebastien (1 of Cat’s 2 older brothers), which is definitely the best way to end a meal:

On Saturday we toured the sites and took in the Belgian specialties. Beer, waffles, fries (I skipped the mayo) and I guess I took a couple of photos of a few of the great Brussels sights, which you can see by clicking HERE, along with the rest of my trip photos. My favorite spots would be of the world famous Manneken Pis, who was sporting some sort of bicycling outfit that day:

And the Atomium, which is Belgium’s landmark from the 1958 world’s fair (the Space Needle is better though):

That night I met Cat, Virginie, and Virginie’s friend Virginie for some dinner and a night out. For the first time since moving to Europe I had barbeque, and it really hit the spot. Not pictured is the middle aged waiter wearing a sleeveless muscle t-shirt. He was hot.

Due to our hectic late night schedule, we slept in until early afternoon (the mattress on her floor downstairs was surprisingly comfortable) and on Sunday we had just enough time to hit the park and enjoy a bit of sun before I headed back to Lux. It was just like being back at Greenlake with all the dogs and the people enjoying the good weather.

It was a great trip, and Cat was an amazing hostess. To her disappointment, I told her that I would definitely be visiting again soon. Whew, what an exhausting few weeks… luckily I get a breather here for a weekend before heading off to Amsterdam and Barcelona. Sante!

London baby London!

Well this past weekend I made a quick 2 day assault on London to visit my fellow ex-pat bud Timmy. I think many of you have been to London, and if so you know how great it is (although a tad on the expensive side). If not, well I what are you waiting for? Come to London to party and then swing by sleepy old Luxembourg to get some rest. Anyway, it is an amazing city with tons of energy and so much to do and see. With only 48 hours there Timmy and I figured out a plan to hit all the sites and allow me to really connect with the English:

1. Visit the Tower of London:

2. See one of the funny guards with the huge hats:

3. See the Tower Bridge:

4. Go out and pick up a souvenir from a local English hooligan:

5. Big Ben of course:

6. Westminster Abbey baby:

7. And finally Buckingham palace:

Wow what an action packed few days. No real great stories to tell, just the typical visit to one of the world’s best cities. Can’t wait to go back again! Heck, we even got to see a fox outsides Timmy’s pad:

Good times. Brussels coming up this weekend, and we will just see what happens there. Cheers.