Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Coolest gambling destinations


As a connoisseur of risk, I have seen my fair share of glory and agony within the walls of lady luck. In Latin America, the casinos feel seedy and desperate, and a shower always seems to be good idea after leaving these smoky dens. Singapore casinos feel simple and clean, as though an army of robots lurks just beyond the curtain, meticulously tending to the unseen cogs that keep the experience running. Macau on an off day feels like the world just ended. Gigantic empty rooms full of smiling Macanese croupiers all enthusiastically welcome you to tables with delicate waves of upturned hands. It is like a creepy dream.

Vegas reminds me of the imitation crab in a California roll. You may know its fake, but you don't care because it is delicious. Likewise, the Vegas pyramid, faux Eiffel Tower, and mini New York skyline are obviously not real, but the kitschy feel speaks to the synthetic appeal of the modern American dream. In Europe, the casinos are ornate old world establishments where you will feel like you forgot your velvet smoking jacket, even if you don't own one.

So where are some of the coolest international places to thrown down on black and let it ride?

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Dawn to Dawn - A new adventure begins


Rare is the odyssey that begins with a credit card declination.  Rarer still is the shabby beginning we experienced at the closest thing to a starting line that is readily conceivable in the mind for our journey, this day,  2013 year of our lord.

It was not early, we were not in any way overconfident or with excessive zeal of any kind, but we were caught flat footed in one of the most deplorable and embarrassing schemes ever to begin an odyssey.  I will just get right to it.  My primary debit card was declined.  At Auntie Anne's.  For the an $8 purchase of pretzels.  To make matters even more proletariat, we had not only declined the upsell additions of nacho cheese and honey mustard condiments, but demanded the free Heinz Mustard packet before our journey came to an unflattering end just as it began.  We looked like a pair of bozo pretzel amateurs.  Our North African pretzel attendant sneered at us from behind her flour specked smock.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The ten oldest bars and restaurants in the world


I once drank at a pub in Ireland where Vikings had commiserated after invading the Green Isle.  It was older than you or I, our great grandparents, or even the Magna Carta.  It was from the dark ages for sure, and where once Vikings swilled brews, today, tourists eat fish and chips while locals complain about Eurozone politics.  If you look closely enough and kind of squint at the Brazen Head, you can just barely picture middle ages Dublin.  You can almost smell the smoke.  If those walls could talk, they would tell the tale of mankind's ascent into a sophisticated society, for better and worse.  I wondered while I sat at the bar scribbling into my little notebook, how many other really old places are out there?

It is rare for a restaurant or bar to last a very long time - where a long time is determined with a measuring stick notched in decades.  The public houses, inns, and restaurants on this list evade conventional measurement, lasting centuries atop centuries.  These are places where arguments took place about the events we only read about in history class.  The oldest companies in the world are Japanese, but every spot on this list is European.  The Germanic people, it seems, are especially adept at building things that last a very long time. They dominate this list.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Bavaria, Germany 2008

Winter Wonderland

Horse and carriage ride to a castle

Awesome Castle

Lone Swan in the lake where King Ludwig drowned

They called Ludwig the swan king

Me and Mom

Small German village

A real Christmas tree, somebody put some lights on this!

Jagerhaus

Neuschwanstein

View of icy countryside


Another Swan

At the lake

Great reflection

Mom, Gram, and I


In the castle, so much space

An ornate carriage

Munich

Munich Christmas Market

Road outside of Munich

More markets

Nativity scene in Munich

A light snow

Such a great place around Christmas time

Lots of snow

Monday, June 22, 2009

Berlin 2008

Ride to Berlin from Czech Republic

Potsdamer Platz - wrote a report on this place 
in German Class, felt obligated to visit 



Another picture of the memorial

Gendarmenmarkt Berlin

Some awesome statues

Neue Wache (Place of Remembrance)

Inside Neue Wache 

Modern 

Berliner Dom

Entrance to Berliner Dom

Sculpture in Pergamon Museum 


Polar Bear at Berlin Zoo - largest Urban zoo in the world
 
Berlin Hauptbahnhof 

The Berlin Wall - East Side Gallery

Courtyard in Berlin

Hoe long is now?