  Believe it or not,  every once in a while I like to leave the Bay Area.  As you all know,  I love San Francisco,  Berkeley the Bay Area ( which,  in case you hadn't heard,  does not include San Jose)  I also love traveling and every time I return I appreciate what a beautiful and unique place San Francisco is.  Germany was a lot of fun.  Kim,  Marty,  Oliver and I went to quite a few places around southern Germany in the sweet Mercedes Benz we rented.
 I'll have to get some pictures and post them.  Unfortunately,  it rained on and off for most of the time,  but I think I still got some good photos.  Some of the highlights were the beer of course!  seeing the many castles scattered throughout the hillsides;  Rhine River boat cruise,  visit to the Porche factory ( where I tried to get a job as a test driver-  unfortunately,  that didn't work out)  Baden- Baden ( spa town with mineral baths and swanky shops and a casino)
 driving through the Black Forrest;  visit to Frieburg,  which is actually in the Black Forrest,  has a really cool brewery,  the 'old town' has intricate cobblestone- mosaic sidewalks and streets with open gutters-  which I should mention,  you must be careful not to step in while walking back to your hotel drunk from the brewery;  we stopped in Fussen to see the fairy- tale castle;  and then onto Munich!  Munich is the type of place that I need to go back to.
 It's a great city with lots to do and when the weather is nice you can fully appreciate the parks and the beer gardens.  I also picked up a little German.  Here are a few phrases I found helpful while there ( spelled sort of phonetically for ease of pronunciation)  " Bitte ein bier?
 (
say with a cute smile to the bartender as an apology for poor pronunciation)  Please,  a beer?  " Bitte ein bild?
 (
say with a cute smile to a boy as an apology for poor pronunciation)  Please,  take a picture?  " shIza!  Shit!  " Fair- root!  Cool!  " Das iz fair-
root shIza!  That is cool shit!
 "
Das iz koo shIza!  That is cow shit!
 "
Haben zie baden shaum?  Do you have any bubble bath?  As you can clearly see-  all very useful phrases.  So,  for now,  I'm just battling some minor jet lag and wondering when and where my next big out- of- country trip will be.  I'll try to get some Germany pictures up on this blog soon too!
