Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

So, I fell in love with Berlin and can't promise that I won't be going back there for more. The " free tour ," we found--which winds up being free, with you paying what you feel the tour was worth at the end--was amazing! I would definitely recommend this tour company (New Berlin Tours), but be advised that you should go online the night before and register, so you have a spot when you show up. There were over 100 people at the meeting place when we showed up and they split us into groups of roughly 25, those who hadn't registered weren't guaranteed a spot. Our group had this wonderful tour guide named Alexander "Zabi," a half German, half Englishman; a fascinating fellow who knew his history (and could have been James McAvoy's cousin!), and who loved to tell the most fascinating stories (both of the history and the players) of each thing we saw. He was well versed in the history of each place and absolutely interesting as hell! And funny....

I am still amazed and envious at how accessible European countries are to one another! In no time we were leaving Hamburg and Germany behind for flat, lovely southern Denmark. Aside from the Danish signage, much of it looked so much like home. We stopped in Esbjerg , Denmark, which is a seaport town, on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in the southwest part of the country, where we did a little shopping, enjoyed coffee and lunch before paying $415 Danish Krones (about $40Euro) for a ferry that took us and the car over to the island of Fano. Fano , an island in the North Sea off the coast of southwestern Denmark, is the northernmost of the Danish Wadden Sea Islands, and is absolutely gorgeous. The middle of it reminded me of farmy New England, while the sand dunes around the beach (near where we camped) and their neighboring brushy areas looked almost like the southwestern deserts that my brother A3 and I drove past on our roadtrip to California so many years ago. I hiked...

Freiburg was unbelievably beautiful and so old; Magdalena goes to the University of Freiburg which was founded in 1457!! That makes her college 500 years older than mine. 500 years old--did you hear that?! Just think of how young the U.S. is in the scheme of things! We spent yesterday morning wandering around Freiburg, taking in the old town, spending our last minutes with Magdalena eating ice cream and taking in the hum of this wonderful city. It was sad to say goodbye to Magdalena, (my backseat-car-mate) and to know that the greatest part of our roadtrip is behind us, but we we were at least happy to know that Magdalena hopes to join us next weekend in Hamburg or Berlin.  We are now in Yannick's (and Beethoven's!!) home town of Bonn, which is also the hometown of Haribou, makers of gummies. We went to the grocery store and they literally have a half an aisle just dedicated to gummy choices in dozens of flavors--I was in heaven! Bonn is also very beautiful, aside ...

We made it to Lausanne, Switzerland Tuesday(?) night and camped in a campground alongside Lake Geneva! LAKE GENEVA! I continue to be amazed at the beautiful things that we keep seeing--this trip is such an enormously wonderful gift and I am absolutely grateful for every minute! We watched the sunset over Lake Geneva before pitching tent and eating our travelers meal (we've had many like this) of baguettes, bread, cheese, wine, and Normandy (hard) cider (cidre!). Deliciously bubbly and slightly drunk me fell asleep under the Swiss stars. *sigh* This morning was a repeat of dinner, though we replaced alcohol with juice. ;) We headed to a local lookout of Lausanne, and then moved on, wanting to spend more time seeing the Swiss countryside, than the city--the drive from France into Switzerland, then Switzerland into Germany was absolutely stunning. We didn't quite make it to the Alps, but saw them from a distance, and instead drove through what I can only assume were ...

Writing from Paris! It is late here and we should be getting ready for bed and another long day tomorrow, but delicious chocolate ice cream has wired me; the Germans are coming up for a route for tomorrow's adventures: maybe Lusanne, Switzerland en route to southern Germany...? I know some people have said Paris is no great shakes, but I love it here. I know that the locals must get tired of us tourists, but we've encountered kind Parisians too, and sweet waiters who were kind--we haven't found a place yet in any country where the waitstaff doesn't speak English! Also, every place we've been has English menus too., makes it easy to be a lazy traveler. I still try and order in the native tongue, to the entertainment of the waitstaff, I'm sure. It was hard to walk around Paris this evening, as we tried to find a dinner spot and we walked a city where kitchen windows were open and everything smelled divine. I ordered from the menu, not knowing e...

Going out of town the last 3 weekends has been lots of helpful practice for when I go to Germany in LESS THAN A MONTH!!! Lots of opportunities for how/what I am going to pack, and what I am now deeming unnecessary. Last year when this was still a pipe dream, Yannick, Magdalena and I were talking about what I'd like to see if I made it to Germany. Me, the ever crazy one blurted out, "EVERYTHING. I want to see as many countries as I can, in the time I have with you." We laughed about this not too long ago, until we got to talking in a Facebook message between the 3 of us where we all agreed that we'd be game for an EPIC roadtrip. I LOVE roadtrips. They are one of my absolute favorite things on the planet. And doing it with some of my friends IN EUROPE! Could my life be any better!?!? So, I read travel books and make half-assed notes in my journal. I shock people when they saw, "So, what are you going to see? Which cities are you going to hit up" to which...

Praying for rainbows tomorrow, but the weather report is calling for rain in the Big Apple. Heading into NYC EARLY for a day alone, spent wandering--never done it before, so excited at the possibilities. Just one day. Will be back at the Farm tomorrow night. Hoping for: Statue of Liberty sighting, Ellis Island, a museum, dumplings, good coffee. Wish me luck. Ahh...the start of a 3 day weekend. Pics to follow. Ingrid Michaelson - "Somewhere over the rainbow" cover

Being in St. Louis for Tizzy and HR on second 's wedding confirmed a few things: 1. EVERYONE I know is getting married (this was wedding #6 of 8 in the past year). 2. Weddings make me lonely, and also make me marvel at the fact that people can spend the rest of their lives with one person. I'm not saying I can't (there are a couple people I could imagine spending the rest of my life with: James McAvoy or Gerard Butler, for example), I just can't think of anyone that could say the same for me. Life is a crap shoot that way, no? Two people having mutual feelings of spending the rest of their lives with that other person and it actually working. Don't you have better odds at card games...or horse racing...or guessing what rat with find the cheese first?! 3. Our community at the Farm is a very unique and beautiful place that I am always so glad AND thankful to come back to. I love going away to see little slices of the world, but I am still at the point that I love com...