The Chris Cardé Experience

Having recently helped my friend James with stage one of his move from Stuttgart to Munich (resulting in 90% of his stuff occupying my car), a trip to Munich one of these weekends was inevitable. Right around the time I realized that my car was overloaded and could no longer keep up while going uphill, a free Saturday and Sunday loomed (this is rare!) and I took the occasion to make a road trip to Munich.

Seriously. The most random thing to happen to me this week. Or this month.

I'm sitting there, minding my own business (or my company's business, really), when I hear flapflapflapFLAPFLAPFLAPflutterflutterflutter. And the next thing I know there's a bird staring back at me from behind the laptop. Huh.

What kind of workaholic bird would care to be in the office on a beautiful day like this?

After a long break from my weekend travels, I finally hit the road -- really, the rail -- this weekend and went to Brussels. Why Brussels? Joe and Jenna were finishing their European adventure there along with some other friends from Boston, and honestly, going just about anywhere sounds exciting! Even better if it's the land of chocolate, beer, waffles, and Dr. Evil!

This is one of my favorite photos from the weekend. Jess is trying a bit of Tim's absinthe, seen below in the tremendously complicated act of being prepared. This was taken at the Floris Bar, which serves hundereds of varieties of absinthe and geniefer.

Many, many more pictures after the jump. Hit Read More (below) to continue!

I came across the lens I've been lusting after at the camera store across from the train station this weekend. Over the next few days I agonzied over whether to:

1. Buy it in the States when I return (saving big bucks)
2. Buy it here (thereby getting three and a half months of European photographic awesomeness)

In the end, being the portrait of fiscal responsibility that I am, I went out and bought it. Awesomeness won out. ;)

Living abroad has been surprisingly easy, in no small part to thanks to technology making the world smaller. I watch TV shows from home via SlingBox and BitTorrent (in HD, even!), talk to friends using my VoIP phone service and Skype, and even read US and British magazines and papers (available, conveniently enough, a stones' throw from the butterbrezels at the hauptbahnhof!).

What have I missed the most? The honest truth? PANCAKES! Big, beautiful, fluffy, syrupy American style pancakes. I used to make inappropriately large batches of these babies back home, even when alone. Several obstacles stood between me and my pancakes here: no mixing bowl in my apartment and an apparent German apathy towards pancake mix or maple syrup which were nowhere to be found in the stores.

Cut to last night. Thanks to a tip from a helpful coworker, I found the "Taste of America" isle at the super-yuppie-fancy grocery store -- a grocery store so fancy that it's embedded WITHIN a department store. And amongst the marshmallows, Campbell's soup, peanut butter, and chocolate chips, and Kraft Mac and Cheese, shining brilliantly at me from the shelf was Bisquick and maple syrup. I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for these gems, but the intrepid reader will appreciate that a can of Campbell's soup sets you back 4 Euros. Let your imagination run free. ;)

There are rumors that this store on occasion carries pumpkin puree. Next step: Pumpkin Pancakes!

Fueling my theory that Stuttgart looks for an excuse to drink beer and party outside every weekend in the summer, Stuttgart held the annual Stuttgarter Sommerfest this weekend. There's been a festival, or a market (secret Stuttgart code for festival) almost every weekend since I got here -- and these things usually involve shutting down a corner of the city, lots of musical performances, food, and of course BEER. This one, however, took it to a whole new level.... It was located on the Schlossplatz and Schlossgarten, two of Stuttgart's most central and picturesque public areas -- and was at least two or three times the size of all the others I've been to.

One [of many] beer mugs from the weekend, lit by a candle while we sat and drank on the grass on the Schlossplatz.

Congratulations Joost and Charly!

Joost and Charly in the middle of their wedding ceremony

My cousin Joost and his fiancée were married in The Netherlands last week. Him being the first cousin in my generation to get married, and our family being rather small, we recognized a special occasion when we saw one and the entire US branch of the family hopped flights to Europe. I, of course, was already in Germany and had the pleasure of taking another trip on my favorite ICE trains.

... or at least that's what it feels like. I've had a guest every night for the past 12 nights! (if you're one of my guests and you're reading this, don't feel bad - it's nice!)

Kate departed this weekend for her whirlwind Italian wedding week. It was super-nice to spend the week with an old friend who knows me well. In an attempt to maintain symmetry, we spent her last night in town at Barcode -- the same place we went out for the first time she was in town. Not only that, but we concluded her visit with a quartet of oh-so-delicious Barcode caipirinhas... still my favorite place in the world to get this drink, even after trying countless other venues!