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Sunday, October 04, 2009

More Stuff from the Trip

You blog readers are getting short shrift, I'm afraid. It is MUCH easier and quicker to upload pictures to Facebook than Blogger. To date, I've uploaded over 1,000 pix there. But then they don't have a five-pictures-at-a-time limit. C'est la vie.

I'm going through the souvenirs and brochures I picked up on the trip now. Rick Steves advises taking along a bunch of Ziploc bags...I suppose to contain toiletry items that might otherwise leak--shampoo, toothpaste, etc.--but his book said bring a lot of 'em, which made no sense, but I thought I'd play along. So I get to Europe and I've got all these excess bags and nothing to do with 'em. Ah, but inspiration struck, and... Read More I realized I could sort out my brochures, tickets, souvenirs, and bits of junk by location so I wouldn't forget where they came from. The bags made me an accidentally anal retentive traveler, but they should help me sort out what I did where, so it's all to the good.

The Rick Steves people are up front about telling you that anything you buy you'd better ship home or keep small, because otherwise you're carrying it with you for the rest of the trip. Thus the small portables. The bracelets are from Venice and going to the mom, stepmom, and little sister. The shot glasses are for me and a friend. The magnets go to the "work wife." The books, wine, and chocolate are mine. My needs are simple
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I just thought this was fun. Passengers traveling in business class get this little goody bag of stuff for the overseas traveler, including socks, sleep mask, earplugs, comb, toothbruush, and toothpaste. Just the basics, as they're handing you a drink upon sitting down. It's going to be VERY difficult to put up with the soda-and-peanut routine (if that) on those crummy little RJ's...











I didn't buy a LOT of stuff, partially because of the weight/space restrictions, and partially because I'm a klutz and knew I'd break things...oh yeah, and partially because I'm generally cheap. But I'd have been remiss if I didn't buy a stein from Germany. I mean, really...

Eventually I need to buy a scanner so I can post some of the stuff I got (anyone need a brochure from Dachau?). Below are web sites to some of the places I either visited or collected brochures from. Let the good times roll.
  • This appears to be a German lady who is interested in things astronomical: http://www.christawawers.de/univers/linksen.htm. Cool!
  • From Bacharach, Germany, a site for souvenir hunters, among other things.
  • A jeweler in Rothenberg ob der Tauber.
  • St. Jakob's Lutheran Church in Rothenberg.
  • A book about German children living through World War II. This book was recommended by our local guide, Herr Jung, who was 8 years old when the war began. Another book recommended by Herr Jung: German Boy. I guess if you want to know what it was like for German kids during and after the war, these are good sources.
  • The Deutsch Post (office). At one point I must've bought something from them. I was curious about their logo. It appears to be the stylized horn of a herald, who would blow said horn when he had messages to deliver.
  • Picked up a brochure from Hotel Gerberhaus, where we stayed in Rothenberg.
  • Also got a brochure from Gutshof zum Schluxen, where we stayed in Austria.
  • Oh, shoot. I found a €5 note in my pile of stuff. Well, I suppose I could keep ONE bill as a souvenir. I managed to spend everything else, except for some loose coins.
  • A brochure for the Via Claudia Augusta, formerly a Roman road that connected the Po valley with Southern Germany. It's now a tourist trail. Amazing what a difference 2,000 years makes.
  • Feel like going paragliding? Try this.
  • The Toppler Theater in Rothenberg ob der Tauber. No web site, sorry.
  • I missed the Doll and Toy Museum, but got their brochure.
  • A brochure from the Dachau concentration camp.
  • A ticket from Neuschwanstein Castle. This place must be seen to be believed.
  • Didn't get to see this, but figure it would've been cool: Legoland Deutschland.
  • Ah! The name of the town near Neuschwanstein Castle is Hohenschwangau. I feel better. I was drawing a blank.
  • Another place I got a brochure for, but didn't see: the Rhein Theater.
  • Also in the bag for Germany: the travel alarm that broke, prompting the purchase of "Frau Wristwatch."
  • I saw this ski jump prior to crossing the tallest road bridge in Europe.
  • A piece of slate from one of the vineyards above Bacharach.
  • I seem to have picked up a lot of coasters. Hmmm. Brands include:
    --Gulpener (Netherlands)
    --Mittelrhein (Winery, Germany)
    --Andescher Klosterbiere (Bavaria, Germany)
    --Landwehr-Brau (Germany)
    --Bitburger (Germany)
    --Gösser (Austria)
    --Feldschlösschen (Switzerland)

More later. That's all from the Germanic pile, I think.

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