Kathrine's Going away party

I was staying with my friend Kathrine while in Denmark. On the Friday of my stay, she had a going away party planned since she is returning to China to work for the 2010 Expo as a tour guide. How exciting! The party was at her parents house and they cooked soooo much food. Not to mention that they had all kinds of drinks available. Here are the notes I jotted down at the party so I would remember:

• Beer and wine
• Pizza and pigs in a blanket
• Lots of wine
• wine wine wine
• And a case of Coke

Haha even the Danish friends were laughing about how much her family liked wine.  The crazy part about it though?   I'm pretty sure that I was the only one who got drunk.  I mean I wasn't belligerent drunk, you know the kind of drunk where you think the family dog from next door has pretty hair and you'd like to bark back at it.  Only liquor makes me like that!  But I did try to keep pace with them, and I am a bigger dude (100kg).  It was no use.  Those skinny Danes have a propensity for good food and drink, and enjoying themselves at large gatherings.

I was the only person in the room who didn't speak Danish.  There were a few didn't speak English, and the Danish would often be translated for my benefit.  They all were curious who I was and engaged me in conversation.   I had learned enough Danish to know when they said 'Munich,' 'American,' 'Bobb,' etc, so it was pretty easy to know when I should jump into a conversation.  There were many stories told about Germans (especially from Kathrine's uncle who reminded me of my uncle Butch.)  The party was an amazing time which lasted 12 hours, not including clean up!

Mom, Dad: Kathrine's dad found me in the cellar admiring the wine selection.  He showed me his cool bottle openers and even the dull sword he uses to pop the cork on the sparkling wines.  I told them how you both enjoy a bottle a wine together on a pretty regular basis, and that you often take trips to Vineyards to restock.  Kathrine's dad takes trips to France to buy 100 bottles of wine when they get low...  You've been invited to come meet them if you ever make it to Europe with me!  Maybe they can meet Sally and laugh at our collective American "intolerance."

Am Autobahn!!!

So at the beginning of my Germany adventure was some difficulty.  Kathrine and her dad were nice enough to drive me to Flensburg, GE so I could pick up my rental car.  There was an accident about 45 minutes north of the border and it stopped traffic for 1.5 hours.  Thus we were 1.5 hours late picking up my car.  I had to rebook the rental in Kiel, which was another hour south.  Luckily I still had a ride and after a little while, the keys to an Opal 4-banger were in my hand.

I drove from Kiel to Munich in one day.  There was a bad traffic jam in Hamsburg, so I got off to go look for a German cell phone.  Everything in Germany seems to be closed on Sundays!  I ended up dozing off in a parking deck for a few hours, then hitting the road again.   I had to put 2.5 tanks of gas in the car for the 1000km drive, and my speeds were 160km/h or above when there weren't speed limits.

Yes, that might surprise some of my readers.  There are speed limits on the Autobahn.  They are 80, 100, or 120 km/h depending on the reasons, such as windy bridges, city limits where there is a lot of traffic merging, and construction areas.  The speed limits weren't really enforced as I saw only one police car in my 10 or 12 hours of driving.  It was wonderful- at that point there wasn't a speed limit so I blew past him.  I got paranoid but didn't get chased!  

My car was an economy, small 2 door hatchback.  The speedometer maxed out at 200km/h, yet no matter how hard I tried I couldn't quite reach that speed.  My fastest was ~195.  Even with the expensive gas, this was definitely worth the money for the experience.  I have something to one up my Dad!!!  Even with his gimpy foot, he likes to refer to himself as 'Fast Bob.'  For those of you who don't know, he is a BMW Club Driving Instructor and has taught many people how to drive fast.  I've never had the money to get into the track circuits with him, but now I can say, 'Hahaha I've driven on the Autobahn!'  I called him from the road to let him know that, and my dad gave me a classic quote: "Drive fast and be safe."  :)