Bratwurst and Windmills

We arrived in Germany tired and sick. I had caught something the day before leaving and by the time we landed in Dusseldorf it had turned into a full-blown chest infection. Ian got the roote canal, so I guess it was only fair I got something too. Always a good way to start out a trip!

Carrie, Fabio and Elliot picked us up from the airport and shuttled us back to their pretty house outside the city. They absolutely spoiled us rotten! We spent the next week disco bowling, riding bikes through the country, going for drives to see castles and to Cologne to see a famous gothic church. We went to the market where Ian ordered his first "bratVerst sausage". We had our belated Christmas and Carrie's birthday present opening night, which was a lot of fun. As soon as Elliot discovered the portable piano my parents sent, however, we knew that might have been a big mistake. I still wake up every morning with the DEMO tunes already running through my head. They are permanently engrained.

A special night was New Years where downtown Dusseldorf turned into downtown Bagdad. We were shocked that a country who enforces such strict rules so that you rarely see anyone jay walking because of the heavy fines, leaves the fireworks show up to the civilians! It was absolute carnage! Fireworks going off in every direction, hitting buildings, hitting lamp posts, hitting eachother. A couple times we were caught in the crossfire trying to get across the street and it felt like we were running to save our lives. It was crazy!

Onto Amsterdam we drove and spent a few days seeing the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank's House. The Red Light district was.....unreal! Has anyone ever noticed the large amount of 2 in 1 stores in Amsterdam that just make no sense? Like "Hotdogs and Lighters", or "Haircuts and Snowboards". How could they not realize that that's just really weird? Carrie and Fabio headed back to Germany and Ian and I spent another 2 days enjoying the canals and admiring the endless clogs, flowers and bicycles. My gosh! Millions and millions of bicycles....everywhere! Okay, that sounds really boring. It was a lot of fun though, trust me.

We took the train back to Germany and unfortunately with the weather (damp) and the jetlag, my chest infection developed into a full blown sinus and ear infection. It was beyond painful. Carrie took me to see the quirkiest Nutty Professor of ear doctors (she laughed through my whole appointment while he poked and jabbed me) and sent me to bed early as we were leaving for Bagkok the next day!

We had such a great time with them! What a way to start out our trip! Next stop Bangkok. Toot Toot!