A bit more substantial review

Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities we've been to, but it's also the coldest place on Earth. Sure, each city has had its charms, but far and away the Christmas lights strung between slanting rows of brightly painted canal-side houses make Amsterdam one of the prettiest. Again, though, it's the coldest city on Earth, so my memory of it might be a bit tainted by trying to hike my H&M scarf up ever further.

Julie and I have started buying gifts sporadically, but with increasing momentum. One gift I think is particularly inspired, and falls well within the category of "stuff you can only get here," where "here" is defined retrospectively as Koln. I even had to run through the crowded streets (oh those throngs of well-dressed people!) and narrow corridors to get it, making it, (I think) extra-special.

Koln was a welcome change from the country-side, which got so quiet and lifeless at night. Corvallis is a pretty sleepy town, but there's always at least the buzz of traffic, if not a party at the neighbors'. Despite its silence, Malgarten was absolutely beautiful, and it was exactly what I wanted the German countryside to be like. Julie and I ate a fancy five course dinner family restaurant just across the street with goose and sauerbraten, striped trout soup, and Chocolate cake from Vienna. When Vienna is just a hop, skip, and a jump away, I can picture some mountain man with lederhosen and a knapsack full of my chocolate cake crossing the Alps, not some faceless refrigerated airplane that would carry the cake to the U.S. I think it's a little more romantic of a notion is all.

The lady who runs the monastery (Kloster Malgarten) sent Julie and I off with two books of her husband's art, two souvenir mugs, and friendly hugs. Which was unexpected because people in the German countryside usually border on the rude. I guess they're just trying to be honest - after all, why should they be nice to a complete stranger? But once you try to get to know them apparently, they show you all of the renovations they've made to their monastery, their art gallery, wake you up for breakfast (although that was kind of our fault for sleeping in), and give you parting gifts and hugs. Again, maybe this was just Frau Heitmann, but I'd like to leave the rural parts of Germany believing everyone would have done this.

By the way, everyone go to Kloster Malgarten, north of Bramsche. If you're in Germany, that is. There are Napoleonic prisons! Who doesn't like Napoleonic prisons?

It's kind of suprising, but Julie and I have planned our next two weeks in stunning detail! Tomorrow we go to Heidelberg and will spend the night there. Then we go to Stuttgart for two nights. After that, from the 21st to the 23rd we will be in Nuremberg, and then we will go to Munich, where we will be from the 23rd to the 26th. After Munich, we will be in Salzburg, Austria from the 26th to the 28th and after that things are a bit hazier, but we have definite reservations in Berlin from the 29th to the 1st. We're also going to see Prague and Dresden before heading to Frankfurt for the night of the 4th.

Since all of our train rides are covered on those days that we travel (within Benelux, Germany, and Austria at least) we could feasibly go straight from Netherlands to Austria in one day, but will instead use this strategically to stop off in the smaller towns inbetween our destination towns. For instance, between Munich and Salzburg on the 23rd, I'm pushing for us to stop at Garmisch-Partenkirchen to see the Zugspitze - the tallest mountain in Germany. I think that between Stuttgart and Nuremberg we might see King Ludwig's castle, just outside of Fussen, but that would take us further afield.

Anyway, we're starting to get used to this travel business and are milking it for all it's worth. Just today we're seeing Anne Frank's Hiding Place, and the Rembrandt and Van Gogh museums and we're going to have to order a Heineken with dinner, what seeing as it's brewed here and all.

SO yeah! And we're having a blast! It's cold, of course, but it's been gorgeous and clear everyday, with little time left for rain - only snow! Cold, glorious snow.

Missing everybody terribly, and trying hard not to think about Christmas,
Max

P.S. Julie has just informed me that our train leaves tomorrow at 6:30 am to get to Heidelberg at about noon. So, I guess I'll be sleeping on the train!