Our one day in this nice German city just south of the Black Forest. Also, home to the pope, I guess that’s why most people were there…

We were there for the… Mini Golf! Every hole was themed after a different country. Alex won by 2… I had two holes-in-one however.

I also bought a real rabbit coat. Will keep me warm in Paris winters.

Started our free day at the Kuntz Museum. Large collection. My favs were (predictably) Dali, Picasso, and Butler.

Even though the Rhine river is a huge means of industrial transportation, it doesn’t scare the locals away from swimming in its fast current. The water was Alps Mountain Cool and full of its share of broken glass and metal. It was amazing.

Sorry to be out of order. Going back to Prague posts… This was an unexpected day of climbing and, well, crying. We climbed lots and lots and lots of stairs up to the Prague Castle and cathedral, where we were met with even more tourists than there were stairs to get there. Watched the guard change, snuck into the cathedral without paying, went through some castle building, meditated in a courtyard bla bla bla.

Lunch consisted of great brews, homemade at the monastic brewery. Europeans pour their beers with extra foamy head. Cheat in me of my beer, that’s what I think!

After sustenance our climb up an even steeper hill began. This time through forest. Alex fell. I laughed. The destination was a 1:5 scale replica of the Eiffel Tower which then we also had to climb. Great views of Prague though. After, we swang and played on a cool kids playground. Still in the mood for climbing I guess.

On our first day of “class” we we bussed around to see more off the map buildings. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go in any of them… Not my cup of tea exactly. In the evening we split dinners since one can’t even buy a kebab for less than 11 bucks in Switzerland. There was a youth music festival happening outside the square by our hotel. We spent a while observing white Swiss rap and dance?

We couldn’t afford to buy our matching German outfits but we could afford to sneak around a German department store and pretend to be traditional folk for a few minutes.

Because we only stayed in Munich for one night AND it was a Sunday evening, there really wasn’t much to do besides window shop for Alex a watch and eat eat eat. We met up with my second favorite Alex, Mr. Diamond at the Haufbrahaus. The first time I went there a few years ago drank one litter of beer. This year I outdid myself and almost made it to two. That was our night in a nutshell.

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We went to Bad Staffelstein, north of Munich, to see what a Bad(German for bath) is all about. As we expected it was a quaint town teaming with elderly retreaters looking for a calming wellness experience.

It’s a spa merged with a beach resort. It was incredible. Exercise pools, lounging tubs, and of course a waterfall hiding a granite grotto. All of this was overflowing with a soft spring salt water which was a great way to soften our toenails before cutting them and our corns off.

The best were the saunas which we sat in three different types, the hottest being 87 degrees celsius. Luckily that is only 188.6 F. Kels and I figured we needed to relate a bit to the heat at home.

Lastly Kelsey was like a kid in a candy store dancing and groovin’ along to the beats with the water aerobics class every hour.

Check out Kels’ new accessory too!

Patterns of Berlin. Guess which ones are Alex and I.

Of course we pocked the rainiest day while we were in Berlin to go to the zoo, but it was still so worth it. They managed to get rid of the standard fence and use lots of plantings to make it feel more “natural”. When it rained we hopped on in to the aquarium. Loved the jellyfish and these weird jumpy land fish.

I drug Alex on over to the kids petting zoo where we saw my fav: MINI horse. So worth the dirty pellet slobber.

After seeing slides of this famous building in architecture school for the past three years, I really had high expectations. They were greatly let down. I didn’t find the exhibit or the architecture particularly moving, and considering we are at the heart of the holocaust it doesn’t seem like it would take much to grab ones attention. It does seem to photograph well…

The Louisiana museum of modern art was such an unexpected surprise. We decided to go on a whim, took a 30 minute train out and were so excited to find ourselves in this little town by the water. It was a drizzly Friday, and there were dozens of dainty sail boats out and about.

The museum had a nice exhibition on small scale architecture. Exploring what is a home, a community, a country and how these work in a cellular way.

My favorite part was the permanent sculptures outdoors by the water. Windy paths and long aluminum slides take you from one piece to the next. Most were hidden and it was nice to escape the old people.

Oh the Fram. An exciting museum of the ship Fram, and it’s Polar explorations.

Vigeland Sculpture Garden
Beautiful scultpures, but overwelhemed by the formal garden.

The most interesting thing about the Noble Peace Museum (to Kelsey at least) was the kids portion where we took a photo with a cardboard cut-out of Nansen that printed out. So was that cut-out really amazing or the museum utterly boring? You decide.