36 Hours in Stuttgart...

Friends! Amigos! Fruende!

I hope all you travelers and expats out there are well... too bad tomorrow has to be Monday.

I just read a great blog by a friend of mine in Heidelberg about his trip to Poland... tough act to follow, but I will give it a shot.

I think more than anything, I love the doing, the journey, the exploration, involved in travel. Just rolling into a new town or city I have never been to before, and seeing "what's up"... that can be meeting a fine girl for a 1st date near the Königstrasse (King's Street), rocking out to a great list of CLASSIC American (and some German) songs at the appropriately titled "Classic Rock Bar" there, strolling into the EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL schlossplatz - famous throughtout Europe apparently, exploring the history of the state of Baden-Wurtemmburg in the Landesmuseum in the Alteschloss (Old Castle)... you get the idea.

What a great city... I liked it as much, maybe more, than the very underrated Frankfurt of Hessen fame! Of course, I have not been to Berlin, Munich, Nurnberg yet, so give me a break on that one guys. Both Frankfurt and Stuttgart share one common trait - beyond of course the great cultural and entertainment options, and that is HOT WOMEN.

O mein gott - Oh my God! It was CRAZY... must be more of what Joshua (all hail the Chief!) was talking about from Poland... I literally TURNED AROUND at least 10 times in those 36 hours to get a better look of someone I would never see again, and received a few snickers off to the side in return from bemused onlookers! Ha, ha... oh, well, the joys of travel.

COMMENT: guys, brush up on the #ol German... you never know when you'll need it, such as when you have a RESERVATION (Reservierung) for an ICE train seat (both ways), and each time someone is sitting there who looks at you with a "What?" look on their face and feigns ignorance when you point to your ticket and the number of the seat they're sitting in!

First time, I didn't make them move however... a kind older lady with a free seat let me sit there, and avoid the "international incident" that could have been brewing... I got to chat about English and learning German, her granddaughter who studied at Ithaca in New York, and other such niceties... all with the ever-present glances from those around us alway curious about what I am saying!

Side note, guys... some of the same games us guys from the USA are used to (and annoyed with), still face us from time to time - although less frequently - over here... last weekend in Darmstatd provided just such an enlightenment... got involved in the "battle handoff - handing off of the baton" thing with 2 girls at An Sibin, an Irish pub there.

The "less attractive" of the two, who I nonetheless wanted to flirt with as she seemed nicer than the "HOT" one, played along with the flirting game for a while... returning a lot of it too I might add, aided by a 3rd girlfriend of theirs that knew English. However GF#3 failed to educate me on the fact that "less attractive" girl was MARRIED... the ring on her RIGHT hand apparently means they are hitched back EAST, whereas in western countries it would be on the left... D'oh!

Oh, well... after licking my wounds in the backroom over a beer with my friend from the UK, I waded back in just to hang out at the bar where we had been... and the girl I had flirted with then - with a lot of confusing "make me guess what's going on stuff" (?) -set up the HOT girl to give me their number (hot girl was just visiting until the 30th) so I could ask hot girl out sometime... ha, ha! If you can follow all this, you're quicker than me, as it was all very odd and confusing in real life. I guess when the sexier girl doesn't get flirted with, she wants to know why and then suddenly gets interested in you... or rather, gets interested in giving you her number (she didn't return my interest after that to meet!).

Ahhh, life as a single guy - isn't it fun??

Can't we all just be "friends"... uh, I mean... can't girls just be straightforward once in a while?

Ciao!

Brett