You may have thought you knew where I’d be when you read this morning’s blog, Munich, correct?
WRONG! 🙂
Well, my initial plan was to head to Munich today until I saw the prices of the available hotels near the train station. Perhaps the best reason for traveling alone is that there is no one to whom you must explain itinerary changes. And while I have continued to try and adopt a “you can’t take it with you” approach to my finances, I am a cheapskate at heart.
Today I am headed to, or may already be in, Augsburg. You may correctly assume that I know very little about Augsburg, but I’m going to find out about it over the next two days. I will also use being in a smaller town as an opportunity to force myself to practice my German. I heard a lot, perhaps too much, English being spoken in Heidelberg yesterday.
When You Realize That Your Great Idea Isn’t
After I ate breakfast yesterday morning I returned to my room to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my day. I sat on the bed, there is no comfortable chair in this room, and realized that I was being slow to motivate myself. I’m “slowtivated” I thought.
I’m old enough to know that almost no idea is new, so I Googled “slowtivate” and found that a guy in Kennesaw beat me to this word. This guy trademarked “Slowtivate” for his “relaxation” beverage, got the Twitter account and the domain “slowtivate.com” for his idea.
THE #1 Relaxation Drink! Energy drinks got you all jacked up? Cage The Bull!
so his slogan went. Apparently it wasn’t a great idea however because his last tweet was nearly six years ago and the website is no longer active.
Here’s a visual representation of how my morning went yesterday:
I Keep Forgetting To Remember Not To Forget These
- You’d think being in Düsseldorf to watch cycling would’ve reminded me that I wanted to go to the sporting goods store to buy cycling saddle cream. Nope. I really liked the stuff I bought in Düsseldorf last year and have been unable to get it elsewhere — even online.
- Yesterday I bought yet another bottle of sunscreen. There has been much more sun in the past few days than I thought that I would see during this entire trip.
- I smell a rat, actually I have seen rats. As I was walking through a city park the other day I saw two rats running about.
- In theory fried onions are wonderful, until they are not. I had fried onions on my Wiener schnitzel for lunch, and tasted them all the rest of day.
ITP Flickr Pics
Here are two photos taken during the 11.5 miles of walking that I did up and down the streets of Heidelberg yesterday:
Unfortunately I think that I managed to consume enough calories to negate my walking, however.
Also, I may need a photography intervention because I am completely dissatisfied with the photos I am taking. They all seem to be soft. Am I crazy? I am using a high-enough ISO to ensure that my shutter speed is fast enough to compensate for my focal length. I am trying to lean against something stable to ensure less chance of camera shake; perhaps today I will use a tripod and remote shutter release. I’m hoping that it’s not the post-processing software doing this. This may be a case when it is the arrow and not the indian (flipping the phrase I heard often from my father’s mouth as a child).
Welcome back. Hope your Fourth was safe and pleasurable.
Cheers,
Paulie [heidelberg/de]
“Maybe the Indian and not the arrow”? Never heard that one, but I like it.
A nice calm 4th which began taking Ollie to the “Decorated Dog” competition in “downtown” Moreland run by our friend and vet Nicole. About 10 pooches came out in their best RW&B. Debbie said we were robbed as we CLEARLY had the cutest dog, but she may be slightly biased.
I had thrown my bike in the truck, so I left “downtown” on 2 wheels and proceeded to put 30 in. The mistake I made was doing the 30 on an empty stomach. By about 25 I was ready to be done. I got home and had a Coke and a PB&J prior to going to a cookout and pool party at Bear Creek. A lovely way to spend the afternoon. I only have a bit of sunburn in odd places I didn’t spray.
So there was a bit of controversy at a bike race yesterday?? The jury was screwed from the moment Cav hit the barrier. So many questions, but the jury issued the DQ. IMHO, I would have thrown the book at Sagan, but left him in the race.
-FP
My dad used to say “It’s not the arrow, it’s the indian”.
It will be a lesser tour without Cav and Sagan.
Having fun with the Deutsche Bahn today. Tune in tomorrow to find out how things turned out. I myself do not know at this time…
Always fun taking the train. What you forgot to mention the other day was the other advantage of 1st class is a reserved seat. I don’t remember 2nd class being that way- and remember getting rudely asked to get out of someone’s seat when I didn’t notice the little label with their name.
You can get a seat reservation in second class too. In fact, I paid for one today on the train that was canceled. I wonder if I could get my reservation fee back.
“It’s not the arrow; it’s the indian.” I like it. 🙂 I’ve never heard that before either!
I must admit that I never got online to read ITP this weekend…but that ended up being a beautiful thing for me because I just spent the first hour of my workday doing it! YAY! Thank you for helping to feed my work slowtivation this morning. It was kinda really cool having 5 blogs in a row to read, especially since you were traveling and it was like a little travel story. However, I don’t plan to do this much because then I miss out on the comments conversations with other ITP-readers.
I was looking forward to your Munich stop, mainly because I’ve always been fascinated (ie horrified) by the ’72 Olympics tragedy and was wondering what you might photograph about that. But I do like your change of plans — especially the part about needing to use your German more. It’s fun to plan out a trip like this, but fun to come across little towns you don’t know anything about too. Sounds like you’re having the best of both worlds over there. 🙂
I was also worried that I would try to cram too much in a two-day timeframe in Munich. Who knows, at this rate I might wind up there anyway!
And I read over the long weekend as I told him I would. The fact he was travelling in Deutschland made it even more appealing. And there was a bike race you may have heard…
good afternoon to Paulie – as your day is half over.
(I think your pictures are great, but I’m no expert)
We actually watched the end of the stage yesterday after hearing about it – that would be a tough one for the judges – there is always elbowing, but when it causes the crash that it did……… its too bad both guys are out, but do you think that because Cav was injured & out, would that have influenced the judges decision?
We kept busy all weekend – I had to work all day Monday – that sucked.
We went out & reccy’d the Wheelhopper we are laying Sunday 7/16 – it will be in Marietta, the exact trail is still TBD, but we have a good idea for a lot of it. We need to spend more time on the bikes, need to find a way to avoid some busier roads.
At the time the jury made the call, Cav’s condition was unknown. It really didn’t matter to them, as it shouldn’t have. Your decision is based on the events on the road. I can understand the decision, but I think they were basing it on the assumption the elbow took him out and there is some question about that.
In Augsburg!!!
I may be a bit stinky.
I am definitely at a bar drinking beer.
Well that’s a surprise! (pick one)
none of the above are a surprise
To paraphrase Paulie’s Dad:
“The camera doesn’t take the photograph, the photographer does…”
Which explains this hastily thrown-together panorama from SunTrust Park last night:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hamwithcam/35737173005/in/dateposted-public/
Positives:
– Great seats, under cover
– Parking in the Red lot, by paying an extra $20
– Decent food options, but (still) expensive
Negatives:
– Super slow entry process (because of security checkpoints)
– Paying an extra $20 to park close enough
A large Chick-fil-A milkshake is…$7
Braves got hammered 16-4. We made our bird after the Freeze won his race (between the 5th and 6th).
73 de JG/HamWithCam
Wow, great picture John!
extra $20 to park close………. just damn.
We were having a discussion yesterday wondering how much of the money spent at the Braves stadium & surroundings will funnel back to the Cobb county taxpayers…….. or if we will ever be told? I think in the long run Cobb county will come out way ahead, but how long that will take is the question.
Show off! 🙂
Bar sound system currently playing “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner.
Is this 1986? Am I back in Florida?
Now playing “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden, so we have moved into the 1990s.
too funny
This sounds like a bar I’d have to leave right quickly based on music selection alone. 😉
I’m shocked. I thought you loved cheese. 😉
I’m very particular about the cheese I love. 😉
Paulie’s top-flight security won’t let me respond to your comment about being discriminating, but touché! (Or for those in Germany, schlüssel!)
6:35pm and I think that I am drunk. I blame the three large beers (arrows) and the indian (me) for this.
It’s 20:00 and I am back in the hotel. I may have failed Tourism 101 today, but it’s been a long day and I need to recuperate for tomorrow. Cheers!