Please ma'am

May we have some hand sanitize please? 

Apparently the men's bathrooms weren't as impressive as the ladies 

Oktoberfest

I feel like all I've done this blog is write about how things are "unlike anything I've ever seen before", but time and again that phrase proves to be accurate and Oktoberfest is certainly not the exception.

I can only start at the beginning, with our first round of maß at the Hofbrauhaus Bier Garden:   

Pleasant Oktoberfest surprises:

- Amazing food.  Schnitzel and spätzle, beer and apple strudel oh my. 

I'm turning into a cross between a maß, a schnitzel and sausage. Not exactly the most girlish of figures to be sure. 

- zero lines at the surprisingly clean-ish ladies WC, it seems the disproportionate male to female ratio works in my favor on this one. I have a picture but I'll spare you all. 

- The dirndl and leiderhosen, and I'm not talking about the sleezy Americanized Halloween costume version (though I did see those too). Rather a traditional dress that we saw not only at the Weisen but around town, on trains and I stores.  It was beautiful and very cool. 

- the speed with which one can obtain yet another maß.  Seriously, these waitresses take care of business.  Off waited longer for a drink at a half empty bar before. 

Because clearly, we were in desperate need of more. :)  And make no mistake, while Dan and Ryan are most frequent subjects of my pictures, we were all right there with them.  

Happy Oktoberfest to you! 

It's so fós-y

Things that were left off the list of things I was told about Iceland: the waterfalls and the rainbows. 

It appears that even a minor amount of Internet research would have enlightened me as to the waterfalls but nothing, nothing could have prepared me for the rainbows.

In an Iceland state of mind

The drive from Keflavik to Reykjavik boggles the brain a bit in that after a 6 hour overnight flight, it appears that you may have in fact landed on Mars.  With one smooth road leading the path through the volcanic fields to Reykjavik, there's nothing but moss covered volcanic rock endlessly on either side of you. 

 

Even more surreal is that a short nap, a short drive and some hiking later, those Martian-like lava fields turn into some of the most rugged, yet simultaneously rolling green/brown/yellow/red mountains and waterfalls I've ever seen. 

Driving in I could help but wonder why on earth this place was Dans "favorite", but in truth I'm starting to get it.