The Chris Cardé Experience

Several of the Stuttgart expats (Eleanor, Dan, and myself) were slated to leave Stuttgart at the end of November, and what with our overlapping social scenes, a joint going-away party was the only rational choice. Eleanor and Dan both having been here for 3-odd years, they deserved a party way more than I did, but hey – I reaped the benefit of having a huge and well-attended party – so cheers, Eleanor and Dan!

The party was at Rob Roy’s – what can only be described as a “fake Irish pub” in Stuttgart-Mitte. The place has been known to have decent live music on a rare Saturday -- but unfortunately our party night wasn’t one of them. We had live music alright – it just wasn’t all that decent.

While attending Oktoberfest seems to come across as quite touristy to many of the Germans I’ve talked to, as an American living in Southern Germany for his one and only Oktoberfest as a resident, I’ll dispense with the excuses for attending. If you’re reading this, you must understand.

Gotta lead with the good photos – so I’m skipping ahead a little… here’s myself, J.O., and Ciara at Oktoberfest with the festing part of the day well underway…

A few weeks ago was my friend Will’s “semi-surprise” 30th birthday party in Genève, Switzerland. In keeping with my travel-as-much-as-possible mantra, I decided to make a weekend of it and see Zürich at the same time.

Let me cut straight to the chase: when real, live, Europeans – who are paid in real, live high-value Euros – start telling you that a given city is expensive, one should pay attention. I, who am paid in Monopoly moneyDollars, didn’t and my finances suffer to this day. ;)

Following Crete, it was time to vamanos for Santorini – my first excursion to a Greek island other than Crete (not counting an afternoon trip with Will in a rented plane many years ago). Now that I’ve done some island hopping, I can’t figure out why I didn’t do it before. It’s so easy – like taking a ferry to Sausalito, but seeing as the tickets are priced in Euros I had to take out a second loan on my car to pay for the ticket.

Shameless sunset teaser shot of Santorini… While I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with Santorini as a relaxation destination, the views and photographic opportunities were truly amazing!

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I'd like to tell you that I'm splitting this story up for your good as the reader, but that'd be totally dishonest. I'm behind a month on blogging for no other reason that I can't allocate enough time to finish a single logical entry.... So, the next few items will be split up into multiple stories!

If you know me, you’ve probably heard me talk about my friend Will’s annual Cretan Conference. For the new kids in school, I’ll summarize: Will – who grew up in the stunningly idyllic city of Chania on the island of Crete – organizes a yearly trip to Crete, inviting a fantastic and ever-changing group of folks to come, relax, celebrate, party, and rejuvenate with a late-summer holiday.

Sunset as viewed from my chariot – a.k.a. a TuiFly 737-800 – from Stuttgart to Crete – now also the desktop background on my laptop!

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After all my gushing commentary about how modern times make it so easy to be living abroad, life's taken a few retaliatory swings at me -- presumably to teach me not to gloat. ;)

I've been traveling almost non-stop for the past few weeks -- with a bit of work thrown in between the weekends for variety. I've much blogging left to do to cover those trips, show off the photos, etc - but I'm going to reveal a few of the surprises from those trips here in support of my current entry's thesis.

In Greece (what was that, only two weeks ago? It feels like months!), I managed to find myself in a bank branch in front of the manager who -- to make a long story short -- found it necessary to cut up my ATM card in front of me. Strike 1! Shoulda purchased traveler's checks.

...I've been astoundingly busy lately, and it's been nearly impossible to keep up with blogging. I thought that all three people reading my blog would understand, but they've chosen to complain instead. ;) So, I'll now do my best to catch my dear Carde.com readers up on what I've been up to.

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48 Hours. 1500 Miles. 4 Countries!

… and we were so close to making it 5! ;)

My friend from the S.F. Bay and UC Davis, Emily, finished work a week earlier than expected, and we hatched a last minute plan to knock a few more countries off her list before she returns to the States.

Emily modeling the sign at the border to Holland – the only problem being that the sign is across the freeway and railroad tracks. Hey, we tried.