W is for Weather-measurement devices have lost their novelty

Travel date: May 19, 2014
Location: Munich
Author: Nick John
Price paid for a load of laundry: I'm too embarrassed to even answer

James and I wandered the city this morning. We ran across a fantastic vegetarian restaurant for, well they were serving lunch by the time we got there. We then meandered through the city, strolled through an couple markets where I picked up some delicate souvenirs which have basically no chance of surviving the trek home.

Our destination for the day was the Deutsches Museum. This massive six-story complex covers all major branches of science, along with a vast array of collections like planes, ships, and ancient human artifacts. They had a large exhibit on modern uses of carbon, like building light-weight car frames, kick-ass racing bikes, and artificial limbs.

The museum's exhibits are largely just in German, which was nice because it absolved me of the obligation to read every word. Instead, we looked at ancient cave paintings and early computers and simple gear machines without learning their real names or the context they play in our world.

All the major descriptions had full translations, so we did learn quite a bit about early humans, nanotechnology and principles of lift. They had an interesting display depicting the evolution of various musical instruments, like the 7-belled trumpet and a trombone with a dragon for a bell (sackbuts FTW!) and a number of instruments that I would have thought were invented by Dr Seuss himself.

Oh, and we saw even more sundials, astrolabes, compasses, quadrants, sextants, and octants. They have arguably the largest hygrometer and barometer (the size of a bell tower, see fig. 4). I am confident that I can now calculate the circumference of the earth, predict the weather and the next eclipse, and navigate a sea vessel, all using tools invented before 1400. Go science! We stayed at the museum until they kicked us out, and we could have easily stayed for hours longer.

From there we wandered toward our hotel and found a cute fairytale-themed gourmet burger restaurant on a busy pedestrian street. We people-watched and enjoyed several half liters of helles Bier before returning to the hotel to wind down and plan our next adventure.

V is for Visiting Memory Lane

Travel Date: May 18, 2014
Reminiscent tears shed: 1
City: Munich
Author: James Lloyd

Today was a very a typical, and for me, nostalgic Munich day. Having lived here for a over a year in 2005-2006, I developed some fond memories of places and experiences in Munich, and luckily Nick was happy to indulge my nostalgia seeking.

We started out our day for lunch at a brew house at the steps of the Frauenkirche, the tallest building in the city center and also the main building. Nick naively asked for a beer smaller than a half liter - our waitress nailed it. She brought him a "Schnitt" which is a beer with around half the glass full of head.

Afterwards we took the U6 north to Universität so I could show Nick where I went to class while I was here. From there, we walked into the English Garden (which is unanimously agreed to be the best city park in the world) to the Chinesischer Turm ("Chinese Tower" in English). A pagoda in the middle of the park with a Polka band playing inside it and great beer served and enjoyed all around it.

After a few beers at the Chinesischer Turm we walked through the park to Mūnchner Freiheit. A favorite spot of mine when I lived here to play chess along the sidewalk with a life-sized chess set. We weren't able to play a game (it's become way more popular in the intervening 8 years) but it was still great to see people playing with the same sets I used to...

After observing the chess players for a few minutes we took the U6 further north to my past home, Studentenstadt (or "student city" for you non-German speakers). This was my home fore a large part of 2005-2006 and was my first time back since then. It's a student dorm area located in the center between the 2 major universities in Munich. Such great times... It was fantastic to be back.

I even got a chance to play Kicker (the German word for fussball) in the Potschlamperl ("Das Pot" as the locals call it). This is how I learned German. Days and nights for months at the Kicker table making friends and learned bar-slang German. Didn't help me in class, but changed my life in the experiences I had outside of class. So grateful to have a chance to revisit such an influential place for me.

After my emotional trip down memory lane at my old home, I decided to expose Nick to yet further nostalgia by taking him to my former favorite hangout, Unionsbräu. Unfortunately, they are closed on Mondays... A fact I must have forgotten in the intervening years...

We closed the night strong though - we went to old trusty, the Hofbräuhaus, and met a German guy name Philip at our table. He was interviewing for a job the next day at Siemens, but still couldn't turn down the beer and festivities. He was a super nice guy. We wished him well on his interview and parted ways.

Chalk this up to yet another perfect day Munich. I'm married to Madison now, but you never forget your first love, and Munich, you're mine... #HomeAwayFromHome

U is for Unbelievable Landscapes

Travel Date: May 17, 2014
Locations: Geneva, Train through Switzerland and southern Bavaria
Hours in a Train: 8
Author: James Lloyd


Today was a relatively calm day, we started by touring CERN in Geneva - this is home to the Large Hadron Collider and the place where the internet was invented. Needless to say, it's a science nerd's Mecca. 

I geeked out pretty hard about seeing the original diagram and device for the first world wide web server...

From there Nick and I then (sadly) parted ways out intrepid co-travellers Luke and Kelsey. It was an absolutely fantastic time with them, which was not only a whole lot of fun, but also grew our friendship exponentially. #Feelings


Nick and I then boarded a train from Geneva to Munich (with a transfer in Zurich). An eight hour total trip, but it was absolutely worth every minute. The view for pretty much the entire ride was like a Bob Ross painting. Amazing.

We also learned that in Zurich, you can buy a pregnancy test in the train platform vending machine, for those times you accidentally get impregnated will getting off the train.. Also, the brand name is perfect: MaybeBaby

T is for Too Much Wine. Said No One. Ever.

Travel Day: 16 May 2014
Jolly Old Winemakers Drank With: 2
Cities: Geneva, Anieres, Hermance 
Author: James Lloyd



This was probably my favorite day of the trip so far! Those of you who understand my passion for wine consumption will not find that surprising at all.

We started our day by buying out train tickets then hopped on a bus for the outskirts of Geneva - the wine area around Hermance. We first stopped by a winery in the town of Anieres named La Cote D'or around noon and had a nice conversation with an older man who sold us a bottle of his wine and told us to come back at 5.

With our bottle of wine in tow, we then went on a 5km walking tour through the vineyards. We learned a lot about the Swiss varietals while on our walk and also saw some amazing landscapes.

That's a horse in the background.

Group Selfie!

The walking tour ended in the quaint, small, old town of Hermance. Directly on the lake and right on the border with France. We took a tour around the town, watched some windsurfers along the lake, then had a nice lunch at a cafe.

After lunch we walked across the bridge into France, but about 100 feet in we felt too weirded out to keep going, so we turned around. One of the best decisions of the day - you know what they say about France...

We then made our way back to Anieres, opened the bottle of wine we bought earlier in the day and enjoyed it at a cafe. The woman running the cafe was initially very disturbed by us showing up at her shop and drinking our own wine but she eventually warmed up to us and even brought us a wine bottle cooler. 

Around 5 in the afternoon, the wine tastings started. We first went to the winery Domaine des Monades where we tried around 10 different wines that were made there from grapes in the area.

Next we went back to La Cote D'or for several more wines with our new best friend, Jean-Jacques Gavillet ("Jacques"). It was a chaotic, multilingual conversation with Jacques - he spoke German with me, a little French with Luke and English with Kelsey and Nick. We basically had a private tasting with him, and went through a long list of wines that were pre-planned to build on one another.

After all this wine, we took the bus back to Geneva in order to make our fondue reservations. Nick tried to take a "Micronap" but it was closer to a centinap. 

After we woke Nick up, we made our way to the fondue restaurant for a crazy cheese-filled dinner.

Then after our excessive cheese indulgence we went back to the hotel to drink a bunch of the wine we purchased earlier in the day. We also had a great set of Euchre games, where Luke consistently cheated, but Kelsey and I beat Nick and him in the last game despite his shenanigans...

S is for Science!

Travel date: May 15, 2014
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Group selfie attempts: four

Author: Nick John

Today began with a casual stroll along the shore of Lac Leman. It was chilly and rather windy (though we speculate it often gets rather windy here) and as such, the city's most iconic feature--the Jet d'Eau--was not running. While you've probably seen jets of water before, this 140-meter-high stream of water makes it to every postcard and brochure of Geneva. The lady at the hotel reception desk said "it's not a very good day to be a tourist in Geneva."




After hanging out on the pier and gawking at the oddest array of waterfowl I've ever seen, we walked down the boardwalk past an array of political cartoons around the theme of peace. I've got to say, it was pretty heavy, and not entirely flattering of America, but fascinating to see the perspective of different cultures on various global issues.

Next we toured the History of Science Museum. This free exhibition displayed a progression of instruments used to measure things like time, weight, humidity, atmospheric pressure and electricity, accompanied by explanations (some in English) of how they work and when they were used. It also offered hands-on exhibits on light, optical illusions, kaleidoscopes, and (strangely) glass eyes.

There was also a sweet room of mirrors that made for a nice photo opportunity.

After all the touring, the walking, the heavy meals, and the weak dollar against the Swiss mark, we wrapped it up with a night in. We made greek salad and omelets, listened to music, and played some cards. After extensive research, we have concluded that Spain knows olives and the Swiss know, well, watches and clocks and banking and things that require efficiency and meticulous attention to detail, but not olives.

R is for Raining Champagne

Travel Date: May 14, 2014
Cities: Barcelona, Figueras, and Geneva
Author: James Lloyd


Today started with an early 1.5 hour train ride to Figueras, Spain for me, Luke and Nick. I assume Kelsey did girly things like sleep in, go shopping, and prepare meals barefoot in a kitchen.

The train ride to Figueras was quite nice. Not a ton of stops and some very beautiful landscapes. At one point, we could see the ocean out the right window and snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees out the left.

We arrived in Figueras around 11 and made our way to the Salvidor Dali museum across town.

In case you're unfamiliar, Dali was a bit of a kook, and while he's most famous for his paintings of drippy clocks and spindly-legged elephants, there were also many sketches, statues, and full-room exhibitions at this museum.

Here are some of the highlights...

After we returned to Barcelona from Figueras, we headed to the airport for our trip to our next destination - Geneva, Switzerland. We're already having problems with people speaking to us in French and us responding in shitty Spanish. I hope we can work though that...

It'll be a bit colder here, though we're all excited for picturesque landscapes, yodeling, playing those big Ricola horns, and observing cuckoo clocks.

The first evening in Geneva was more chaotic than the entire trip combined! We arrived at our hotel to find out that it was already sold out, but they were super helpful and paid for a taxi and arranged another hotel at the same rate. Once we got to our new hotel, Luke, Kelsey and I went out to find a bite to eat. It was about 11:30 pm at this point and everything appeared to be closed until we found a tiny bar that was still open. This is when the real chaos began.

There were two things that were immediately obvious: 1) The bartender/owner was plastered, and 2) the other people at the bar were two prostitutes and an old dude picking one of them up. Clearly we were up for hanging out to see what happened and oh man was it worth it...

To tell the whole story in paragraph form would take up too much of my vacation time, so here's a bulleted list of the events that occurred within the bar this evening:

• Carlos sneakily dropped shots of tequila into our beers
• The old man that was trying to pick up one of the prostitutes was very happy. Too happy in fact for someone who has not yet closed the deal, yet interested in a prostitute...
• A german banker came in and talked to Luke about soccer for quite a while.
• Carlos took a bottle of champagne from behind the bar, uncorked it, then shook it up and sprayed it all around the bar - on the ceiling, on the patrons, everywhere. This is when the german guy left. 
• Throughout the evening it was clear that Carlos was too drunk to care about service, so it turned into a self-serve bar (my favorite kind...)
• Carlos and his friend started playing soccer with a crumpled up napkin behind the bar. Almost certainly due to the previously mentioned champagne event, Carlos fell face first on the ground, and came up holding a bottle of tequila saying "It's OK!"
• Carlos also took quite a liking to Kelsey - she even got a few free roses out of it.