That’s Rad!

Here is the exact part of Germany that I hail from, and this is such a cute short vid to show it off a little bit (from a real-life person’s view)

Happy (Alp-y) April!

This just in from my hometown of Bad Reichenhall, Germany:  snow in April for Easter!

Before any butchering of the pronunciation commences, please copy and paste the city name into Google Translate and take a listen (it’s really not a “Bad” as it appears!)  : )

As I sat on the 80*+ patio and received these pictures, I realized how fortunate I am to be sweltering rather than shoveling!  Beautiful photos, and they definitely make me long for long hikes through the mountains, the crisp forest air, the beauty of the magnificent & towering “Schlafende Hexe” (the mountain pictured), and the people who are dear to me who live there.  It’d definitely be difficult to find an easter egg in that snow!

Spotted: world mappin’ w/ Mishi

Traveled with my best friend Mike for  an amazing 6 weeks in Europe quite a few years back to visit my fam.  Here are some (very) quick highlights..

Here we are at the Orlando International Airport, waving our goodbyes – I still couldn’t believe someone I actually knew was going to see the rest of my fam, and experience Europe for the first time!  Only super stoked, can you tell?

We were in Munich, Germany, first.  This was some beautiful graffiti at Kunstpark Ost – where they also had a really rad market on weekends:

Then Mike tried his hand at it, on my back (he’s amazingly artistically inclined):

We goofed off a bit on rainy days 🙂

Impromptu visit to Ibiza, Spain, for a quick 15 days…
(amazing weather, amazing water, amazing times w/ great ppl) :

Over to Budapest, Hungary:

Ending our trip in Berlin, Germany.  This was after we traipsed Love Parade– not sure what time it was, but a great time it was, that’s for sure!  : )

Yea, mainly pics of me which I don’t do on the regular, I will add other more scenic ones as I get them loaded – there are some other really awesome/funny/great ones!

Berlin

“Everyone loves a parade”  –especially the Berlin Love Parade 🙂  such a great time amongst such an enormous amount of people!  This was of course back in like 2000 or something like that…  it was something I will always remember.

Chiemsee

My aunt and uncle used to own restaurants on the Chiemsee, and we would always visit when we were “in town.”  It’s beautiful, serene, rich with Bavarian culture, and not only (all) that, but you can also take a ferry to the Herreninsel to see the amazing (yes, A-MAZING) and beautiful castle of (Mad) King Ludwig II.  He also happened to commission that little castle Neuschwanstein, if you’ve heard of it 😉  I will post more pictures at some point.

Bad Reichenhall

Ok firstly, “Bad Reichenhall” is pronounced like this:  bud rye-hen-hall, with a rolled “r” and a phlegmy “hen” and “hall.”

Secondly, to give a little bit of information about it, it is a spa town with numerous salt-water baths and even an open-air inhalatorium made of two nearly 570′ long corridors which are nearly 50′ tall, composed of 90,000 closely bundled blackthorn and hawthorn twigs.  The salt in the air increases as the water evaporates, and it is supposed to aid in respiration (pictured below)..  pretty interesting stuff there in this little town.  
They also make some of the best chocolate ever: The Mozart Kugel made by the Reber company.  o.  m.  g.  (which you can now find at World Market thank you!)



O yea, another thing:  in the photo above, there is a figure called “die Schlafende Hexe” which translates to “the sleeping witch.”  If you look at the mountain on the right hand side, towards where the two of them meet, you can see her profile (her head is on the downward slope, and then her body and feet go upward).  If it’s too far away, here is a google search with more up-close shots 🙂

[click here]

And lastly me, in my hometown 🙂

Nürnberg

Day trip to Nurnberg with friends made in German class –  after a looong night with no sleep!  It was definitely good times, and such a perfect day to visit.  I’m hoping I can dig up some more photos of mine..

Btw, some of the best gingerbread (aka lebkuchen!) comes from this quaint little city.

Berlin

I heart Berlin.

Munich

Ok, you needn’t get all excited, I’m not currently in Munich, these pics were from a while ago, like 7ish years?  I’m glad I still stumble upon them every so often 🙂  They were taken in and around the Olympic Stadium and the Frauenkirche (church).  They may be old, but they dusted off quite nicely 🙂

Peep the present

Peep the past