Altbier Tour

Every region in Germany is known for brewing its own

special beer. Here in Düsseldorf, they brew what is known as "Altbier", a darker, richer type of beer that I would compare to Newcastle. Or maybe Yuengling. In any case, I LOVE it. So, one "Düsseldorfer" thing I really wanted to do was make a little Altbier tour of the 4

local breweries right here in Düsseldorf! And very very conveniently I happen to have met and fallen in love with a real,

live Düsseldorf boy and Altbier expert!

It was not difficult to convince him to lead the t

our.

We started at the Schumacher Brewery in the Carlsplatz open air market. Schumacher, Kai informed

us, is

the lightest in color and sweetest of the Alts. Perfect for summer.

Next, we moved to the Uerige Brewery, just on

e block down the road and sat indoors.

This beer was much darker and bitter in taste, meant for heavier and more traditional German dishes like Leberwurst Brötchen or Black Pudding. It would have been great in the wintertime, but I like the lighter and sweete

r taste of the first beer.

The third stop was Schlüssel. This place had a beer that was light like the first but bitter like the second....I like it alot. Unfortunately, you can't really find it in town except for at the brewery. It did have the coolest story behind it....the word "Schlüssel" in German means "key".

In the days of Olde...Düsseld

orf used to be surrounded by 3 city gates, and at night they would lock the gates shut and store the keys in this brewery to keep them

safe! Cool!

The last and final stop was my favorite....the Füchschen Brauerei. "Füchschen" means "Little Fox". This beer was more red in color an

d sweeter. It was super fresh and it only is good for about one month, unlike most other beers, so its shelf life is very precious! At Füchschen we were definitely in need of some nourishment, so I ordered a traditional "Mettbrötchen", which is a rol

l sliced into halves and topped with a mixture o

f raw ground pork, diced onions, salt and pepper. It might sound gross, because it certainly did to ME the first time it was described to me, but it is

DELICIOUS! One of my favorite local dishes.

A great success! I can check it off my list.

Berlin!

Upon my return home, Kai picked me up and we were almost immediately off to Berlin. He spent some time with his friend from school, Marc Hines, and I visited my dear old friend Patty Chuang. The most remarkable thing about Berlin is how BLOODY HUGE it is! It's as long as Manhattan, including the Bronx and Brooklyn, only from east to west as well!

The first day, we arrived around 4pm and Patty and I went to grab a few beers before watching the Holland v. Uruguay match. We found a lovely biergarten and had our fill of Hefeweizen with Kai, Mark, and two other friends of theirs, Gloria and Lavinia. Lovely time indeed. It did end up taking us over an hour to get home!

The next day was spent sleeping in and then sightseeing! We toured the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial (extraordinarily moving and rather creepy....it was an entire city block of cement rectangular blocks at different heights, creating this really eerie cement forest. Got the point across.) and then we made a new friend named Isabelle! She asked us to take a picture of her, and we got to chatting, turns out her husband was working and kids were with their grandparents, so then she took us out for a beer. She was so lovely....we had the best time chatting it up with her and practicing her German! From there, we hit up Potsdamer Platz to see Patty's new fancy office....she is spending the next 6 months working for Deutsche Bahn. I passed by the magnificent Philharmonic building, waved to Sir Simon, which was lovely. Next, we hit up Checkpoint Charlie...which was also pretty cool. It is the entrance to what used to be the American sector of Berlin. It's really very cool to see how the four nations have left their mark on Berlin even today.

That evening, we met the boys downtown to find a place to watch the Germany v. Spain match....and ended up at, believe it or not, HOOTERS. Of all places. But the city was PACKED! every bar and restaurant we tried to go into was completely full...even 2 1/2 hours before the game! These Germans are really dedicated. Well we ended up there drinking shitty beer but had a great view to a TV...so all was well. Sadly, Germany lost, and we sauntered on home.

I loved just walking around Berlin taking in all of the street art that is available. The next day, we went to this really cool exhibit at the Museum of Ethno...something something....to see an exhibit on Haitian voodoo art! It was UNbelievably creepy...there are several different Gods that are made representations of through various mediums, but most of the "voodoo" dolls are life-sized rag dolls that are made of cloth, sequins, and real human SKULLS. it was also really cool to check out the altars....made of huge mirrors and human bones. Rockin.

All in all a fantastic few days!

Home Sweet Home

Holy Moly it has been a long time since I've posted....and I have so much to tell! I'm going to divide the entries up into locations instead of doing just one big MASSIVE post.

First stop was a good, much needed taste of North Carolina. Getting off that plane at RDU into a wave of delicious June humidity has never been more pleasant....and I am actually not being sarcastic. Dad picked me up and drove me home to my mommy...who I was SO happy to see. And even at 10pm and after quite a difficult season, she looked like a rock star! I was so happy to see her looking great and in great spirits. And, not 10 minutes after I had walked in the door, my beloved Rachel and Emily showed up with an adorable "Welcome Home" wagon consisting of a lovely poster and a delicious helping of Taco Bell Nachos. Yum. Apparently they missed Dad and I in the airport by a matter of minutes. I've never felt so special!!

The next few days were pretty much taken over by Lindsey's wedding....finding something to wear....nailing down some musical details, and recovering from jet-lag, of course! It was such a special experience to get to be a part of her ceremony....when I saw her come in the church door at the wedding rehearsal, I got a little teary-eyed. She looked so unbelievably radiant in a indigo satin dress, hair done, silver shoes, and on the arm of that lucky guy Andy Hayek. Rehearsal went splendidly, and then on the rehearsal dinner at the fancy-schmancy Capitol City Club! I was joined by my love, Scott Waldrup, and he, Clare and I had such a blast chatting with the family at our table. I also got up to make a toast to Lindsey and Andy during the toasting time...something I didn't plan on doing, but was really glad I did.

The wedding was truly lovely. It was really special to be able to sing for Lindsey and also to sing with Clare again. Of course Lindsey had arranged the duet herself, a rendition of "The Gift of Love"....and it was really wonderful. I did get pretty sentimental during the entire ceremony...alas. The reception was a blast, since Clare and I brought Scott and Tart as our dates. We pretty much just hung out by the bar and were set for the rest of the night.

The rest of the week consisted of me hanging out with my mom, my dad, my doggy, Rebecca, hanging out by the pool and planning my adventure in Berlin with Patty! I got my fill of heat, home cooking, my Honda, and home. Thursday, July 1st, Dad and I flew to New York for a day o fun and mayhem...we basically just had a blast stumbling around the Village hanging out at Forbidden Planet and guitar shops, and of course supplementing that with too much coffee. I love that I can show my dad around the city and still feel comfortable. I got to see my love William for lunch, Dave Clemmons for a brief visit, and then Dad and I had dinner with his friend Godfrey from the Arrogance days!

The next day, I took a bus from Port Authority to Seaside Park, NJ, to spend some time with Katie Curtis and her family on their boat, Harmony. It was EXACTLY what I needed....a day of relaxation on the beach and bloody marys with one of my best friends. We caught up on EVERYTHING...and it's so nice to know that we have gone over one year without seeing each other and it feels like nothing has changed.

The next, day, back to New York, and back to Germany. I thought I was going to be way more depressed and stressed out to leave....but as it turns out, I was really excited to get back to Germany. I had so much exciting stuff to look forward to...seeing friends and trips to Berlin and Paris! Not sure exactly when I'll be back in the States....but I'm perfectly content to be where I am.