Brrrr!

So... it's cold and snow here. This a.m. it was 17 F on our porch and 65 in our apartment (that's normal though). The high today was 21 F. The sun was out though so, in places, it felt much warmer and it was great to see the sun and need sunglasses.

Yesterday I went for 2 hour ride in the snow and 21-25 F weather. It was also windy and couldy. Oddly enough, I was sweating on the upper part of my body and then my toes did their best job protesting the cold. It was nearly an hour after I got home before I could feel them again.... and that hurt!

By talking about it, I may jinx it (if you believe in those sorts of things) but the guy that's driving us to the Snow Race next Friday owns a bike shop. He needs a new employee and apparently, the "friend of a friend" connection is going on. My buddy Tom has talked to him about me. I'm supposed to meet with him next Tues. We'll see what happens.

We got me a new winter Parka. It's a Vaude - Ciampinoi Double Jacket in Neon Green a little like my bike. It's awesome. Way more than warm enough for days like today. I tried to post a link but it didn't work. Look it up if you're interested at http://www.vaude.com.

We've booked our next adventure for my time off of school in February. We're heading to Egypt for 15 or so days. I'll tell you more later. Think jeep/camel safari sort of thing.

Xmas was spent with Kera's Host family outside Stuttgart on Sat. night and then with our friends Sara and Christian on Sun. night. Here are a couple of pics of that fun time...

It's beginning to feel... like er, Weinachts

Weinachts is Christmas to these here folks! Just so you know, Santa has very little to do with Christmas. St. Nikalous (sic) has his own day on Dec. 6th and with the infusion of American culture in to every part of the world (not always such a good thing) Santa is slowly gaining a little ground.

Other news... Teri & Tony came and went. They left in their wake smiles, a few more photos and a beautiful serving platter and the 1st Season of South Park on 3 DVD's. Yippee! Thanks so much you guys. We had a blast having them here and hope we didn't bore them too much as we made them wander one Kristkindelmarkt (Christmas Market) after another.













Kera and I joined a gym. It's in an effort to enter the '06 racing season in some sort of shape. We have 8 locations to choose from to work out, 3 maybe 4 of which are within a 10 minute bike ride from our apartment. Spinning, spinning, spinning! Nothing like riding your bike to spin and then ride home. It actually seems to work as a decent warm-up and cool down though.

Gym's are super expensive here. Think many car payments... that's with a corporate discount. Complete redirect: However, I have found out how much fun it can be to ride a fixed gear in the snow. The trick I'm working on is to spin the cranks a full turn backwards whilst stopping/skidding. Yup, I'm an idiot!

Thanks for the Christmas cards and gifts that people have sent.



We miss y'all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The Stewi...have landed!

Our friends Teri & Tony arrived on Sunday morning. They were jetlagged and tired, but we drug them around Münich anyway. They were willing victims as it turned out. We hit a couple of Christmas Markets, a genuine beer hall, y'all and had Tapas at a restaurant a couple of blocks away called Bodega Dali.

Here we are having Glühwein (mulled hot wein) and eating crepes... yummy.

A day in Nurnberg

First.. Nurnberg is about 1:30 by ICE (Inter-City Express) train to the north of Munich. Even on a rainy, mostly cloudy cold day, it's a nice ride. Hell, you don't have to drive and/or worry about much at all.

Our first endevour of the day was to peruse the Christmas Market. It's BIG! Loads and loads of Christmas paraphernalia. It's really hard to imagine all the stuff that you can buy.

Second stop was the museum. O.K., political rant now. If'n you're a Bush fan and completely believe the hype... stop here; otherwise, read on. The more I learn, from the Germans, about Hitler and the way that he and his administration used media, intimidation, retoric, more media and so much more, the more that I'm convinced, someone in the White House has been reading a lot about the way the Reiche came about. "The whole don't think for yourself, do what I tell you", "If you're not with me, you're Anti-American", and so on crap. O.K., some of that off my chest.

Link to the pics that we took in Nürnberg (see if this works)... http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=krnad75.4ndv01e9&Uy=tv99rt&Ux=0

Suffice to say, the museum was cool, but it got Kera and I talking politics a bit. Man, are there a few things about the states that we don't miss. That's one of 'em.




Imagine, we're standing about roof level (there once was one) above where hundreds if not thousands of loyal Nazi's once saluted an incredibly scary Demigod.

Anyway, back to the point of this blog. We had a nice trip to Nurnberg. On the way home, Kera helped me with my homework (Hausaufgabe).

I've just found a stash of old email addresses... therefore, I've added a few new people to the list. As always, let me know if you don't want to see this Blog. FYI, it's usually, not politically oriented. :-)

Frietag...

Well, it's Friday. It's actually beautiful out today. Freakin' cold, but beautiful! The sun is out and it's clear, but when we left the apt. this a.m. it was 22 F. Brrrr. Think I'll attempt to buy a new down/Hollowfill coat this afternoon since Kera has obsconded with mine. Hmph!

Here are some photo links if'n you want to check out my pics...

School stuff..

http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Schule_Schmeck/


Dinner at Tammy & Carsten's Nov. 21, 2005
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Schule_Schmeck/PhotoAlbum5.html

Random Volkschule photos
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Schule_Schmeck/PhotoAlbum6.html

Camera Phone photos of class
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Schule_Schmeck/PhotoAlbum7.html

Bowling Night
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Schule_Schmeck/PhotoAlbum8.html

The apartment
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Home/PhotoAlbum10.html

6 Day races
http://homepage.mac.com/wunnspeed/Fahrrader-Bike/PhotoAlbum4.html

We're off to Nurnberg on Sunday. I'll try to take pics and post 'em later.

Have a great weekend!