Paris bids a relieved au revoir

Parisians can breath a sigh of relief and begin the rebuilding process. The female Finlay contingent is now in Galway, Ireland. According to the lastest text, (at 2 am) they were in a crowded bar, meeting Irish boys and apparently a snog has occurred. The youngest Finlay seems to be much happier, to the relief of her older sister. This is the good news. The bad news? The overweight baggage fees on Ryan air were $500............sigh.

Ein Prosit!

Happy!!!

Roofs are on some of the tents. Signage visible. Spatenbrau tent is up!

It's that time of the year again! The excitement grows. There's a vibe in the the air. No wait, that was Rupert. bad dog!

Stimulating!

All of the family is travelling!

Young one off to SFO (CA) next week. Visiting relatives. The Ms. heading to Ft. Myers tomorrow. Selling the Condo. Me: two weeks from now in Santa Cruz. Maybe joining another Board.

Dropping the Ms. off at Cinci airport. Will meet with Jack and go to Mecklenburg (a bier garten) Pictures to come. Chugger coming as well.

From the Archives

Name the year and town....

California is the New West Virginia!

Three items for your consideration:

1. I have my new passport! Mug shot is such.
2. Had lunch at Love Boat Sushi. They are already gearing up for Oktoberfest! Prost!
3. Things are so bad here now that Arnold is charging us for air. I just stopped breathing and now absorb Oxygen from opening beer bottles.

Training Video for Deutsche Trinke Bruder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6LpDKF9ysE&feature=player_embedded
A training video for two reasons;
1) German Language
and specifically for our Newbee:
2) How Beer is to be served!

Good Luck.

Beer Advertizing in the Fifties

CHAMPIGNEULLES ! Recorded by BB at the Beer Museum when we were in France.
Also found an interesting Beer site; http://beerme.com/index.php

"Ad fontes, ad fundum, ad nauseam, ad infinitum"

Paris Bound

I've spent the entire day getting Alex packed up. She's joining her sister in Paris, then the girls fly to Ireland. I have made up what appears to be a 50 page itinerary. The sad part? The chances of them even looking at it are about 50/50. But maybe if they get stranded, momma will have to fly out and save them :>).

BORING!

Once again, a post about nothing.

I'm working through a corporate acquisition for one of my companies. The acquired (if it occurs) is a near bankrupt local company. Looking through their financial statements is a bit like conducting a post-mortem examination. Instead of using tools to determine future cash flows and valuation, which one would use for a healthy company, I'm more digging through the wreckage looking for assets that can be salvaged, customers that might stay, and avoiding liabilities transferring with the company. Yech!

Around here, a sign of the times. A lot of small business failures and a general feeling that it is not getting better, but worse. Statistics seem to bear that out.

Anyone up for a beer?

Cheers to all of you !

Back home after 64 days and 1745 km. Just on time. I believe I have work to do. B88 and T88 are calling. See you in Munich.

Oktoberfest!

Am I the only one who noticed the tent structures are now going up! Finally!!!!

Eel/Paling on toast

Who have not visited Netherlands Volendam do not know what they miss.
Delicious! John can tell all about. As this is our last day of the nine weeks Journey (tomorrow we go to our home harbour) it is good to taste the real fresh fish in Volendam.

Form

While in Aruba, Keith had to teach me the proper way to grasp a stein. The fact that I wanted to use my left hand confused him but I think we got it ...

Proposed Day 1 Schedule

07:50
Scheduled Arrival at München Flughafen

09:30
Approximate Arrival at Hotel Alfa

10:30
Approximate Departure from Hotel Alfa for The Wiesn

11:00
Arrival at Wiesn - Paulaner, Lowenbrau or Bräurosl Tent

11:00 - 15:00
Golden Nectar and Lunch

15:00
Depart Wiesn

15:45
Arrive Hofbrauhaus

16:00 - ?????
The traditional Hofbrauhaus Revelry

22:00
Stumble to Shakespeare's

24:00
Eat Donner and Crash at Hotel Alfa

The King and Queen

We must go to Schloss Nymphenburg. I want to hold court! What court position do you want to be?

Knave? Jester, Prince? Lady in waiting? Consort? Make your request and I may grant it!

Renssalear

We're back from college orientation weekend. Impressive! Full schedules for both parents and student. A quick, almost surgical separation, right at the beginning. As soon as we are out of the taxi: parents one way, student directed another. We don't see her again until end of day the next day. By then she is registered in her first semester classes, has met her roommate, and has explored the campus. We, in the meantime, have been in the same large lecture hall, being told about the university, the dorms, and the need to "let go."

Quite well organized and thought through.

What do these items have in common?

Perhaps..........................nirvana?

Confirmed...

Got the papers (Vair are yur papers?) from Munchen... Yippee!

Have some Paulaner in the cooler for a cook out we are having this afternoon.

Cölner Hofbräu Früh

Vandaag dus iets minder in temperatuur. Maar toch nog 25 graden. Dus weer op het terras :). En wel bij de "place to be" Cölner Hofbräu Früh (www.frueh.de). Mooie training voor Oktoberfest! Bis Morgen!

Schweinshaxe mit Bratkartoffeln

Need no say nothing no more!

Rehearsal in Cologne

Brauhaus Menu and Kolsch Beer. Great!!
I will share the experience later :)

photo removed

this lovely gal is the bartender's sister - he and she were fine with a photo but posting is a bit much. Too bad

We have the bartender convinced that we are writers for "Resort Travel," magaizine and we are here to critique the bar.

We are getting very good service - stand by ...

For Barbus

......
Keith..
Sent from My BlackBerry (excuzz any spelling missteaks)

Hello from Aruba

Not much here but sun, sand, blue sky, scantily clad ladies, bars, alcohol, oh, and RodG and Debbie.

Phew... Got my post in.

......
Keith..
Sent from My BlackBerry (excuzz any spelling missteaks)

Chinesischer Turm

According "Der Feinschmecker" the best culinairian Book magazine in Germany, the top 3 Biergarten in Munchen are:
Augustiner Keller, Chinesischer Turm and Gutshof Menterschwaige. I don't believe we have been into the last one. www.menterschwaige.de
Maybe a tip for this trip!

Belly Dance for Barleyman

As you know, we celebrated the big 50 at our house last night. I did a special dance for David. Penny the pug insisted on being part of it. We had a great party and missed you all. Maybe you all can attend the 60th party!

Happy Birthday to Barley Man ! ! ! !

Wish we could be there for your "Big Day", but we will make up for it whilst in Munchen. Everyone, please extend your condolences, uhm, congratulations, to Barley Man. He's one of the best.

Herr Chugger

Good reason for a beer

Well, OK, not really - not a good idea to to turn to drink when one is down, but damn ...

Just dropped the asking price for our home. "Buy high and sell low," ... something seems askew with the that ...

G-Man

I like BarlyMan's suggestion of G-Man - kinda harkens back to my previous career, though I was not a Fed.

New Handle for RodG

RodG... just doesn't seem right. Even The Designated Walker says he needs a new name. I know it's early, and we do not have much experience in these types of excursions, but how's about some suggestions.

During our Aruba trip next week I will explore other opportunities should you not come up with something useful.

S#&! Meant to say Bier!

Baby!

Let's be sure to do our share....

On our last trip to the Fatherland in 2007, 6.7 million litres of bier were consumed (and that was without Barley Man !).

In 2008 without us, consumption only reached 6.6 million litres.

I challenge this year's Oktoberfestians to surpass the 2008 level, and set a goal of 6.8 million litres. With Barley Man, Paulaner Girl and RodG there this year, it should not be a problem.

The pot at the end of the Rainbow

h/t Dan Collins

LiveStrong!

There's hope for us old guys! Stage 4, Team time trials, has Team Astana with a 23 second improvement over the field and Lance Armstrong at less than one second away from the Maillot Juene. I didn't think we would see Lance getting another Yellow Jersey (his 84th), but here we are - a real possibility!

Construction has begun....

Keep your eyes on the Web Cam shots above. The tent construction at the Wiesn has begun.

It's all over but the drinking now.

What else can you do on a rainy day

All Set: Monday 3:30-6:30pm Hippodrome

I also received the following:

Hello Mr. Finlay,

we just charged your credit card today and will send you the confirmation and receipt by post.

Best Regards

Annabell Wiehler

*********
Josef Krätz Hippodrom eK
Weinstraße 7a
80333 München
DEUTSCHLAND
Telefon +49-89-29164646 Telefax +49-89-295442


Is it weird that a beer place would be on weinstrasse?

I am now free on Tuesday.... :-(

Just got this in the mail...

Thank you for your registration. Sorry, we regret to inform you that your registration to attend the Public Memorial Service for Michael Jackson was not selected. Hundreds of thousands registered, but only a few can be in attendance.

Alex and I were going to drive up for the service. Goodbye Michael!

Wine_Beer_Keith_Chugger ????

Mr. Chugger since when is your alter ego in the wine business? And if so why you never told us so. Afraid of damage to your "die-hard beer" image?

New Waste Management Regulation in Munchen

Consumers at Oktoberfest, all of drink and eat volumes of Food and Drinks at some time or other around the Tents. Examples include Beer, Wine, Kebap, Wurst or Kartoffel salad. When discarded in the trash, the residual materials in the Pissoirs may seem insignificant to an individual; however, when multiplied by the number of visitors at the a Wiesen, it becomes an environmental problem that needs to be addressed.

In Munchen, the Hazardous Waste Management Rules are administered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Munchen's rules are a refinement of the minimum standards established by the Germany Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and were tailored to best protect our natural resources. Among these protections are stringent licensing requirements for Public Pissoirs.

A.o. these rules include that a consumer has to make a decision for the right Pissoir and only can drink or eat one sort per round.

With these new federal rules the hazardous component of the waste stream can be dramatically reduced, resulting in improved environmental quality at the Wiesen.

nothin to say

I'm at least one round behind - I can't even keep up with reading all of these, let alone creating one each week.

Our heat index is back up to around 110 but we have lots and lots of beautfiul sunshine.

I like B'mans advice to drink german beers in prep for our trip - goes well with this weather.

A Post about something

When one has nothing to say, of interest anyway, what should one do? Pay for a round, concede one is so uninteresting that it is worth paying for a round of beer for everyone? Or just have a post about nothing, saying nothing?

Our trips have air transport, hotel and an outline of activities. Our trip has great company coming together on a repeated, but rare occasion.

The price of beer is known, the price of tables is not, quite.

We've each travelled a great deal, each enjoyed many sights, foods and bacchanal.

What new things will we see, do or learn this trip?

One thing certain, we'll catch up with where each of us are. We'll share meals together, take in the sights, and I'm fairly certain have a few drinks together.

Hopefully, this post is sufficient that I will voluntarily buy a round, not because I have failed my posting quota.

Woot Woot! Air France!

Vive le France!

2 Skymiles seats openned up on the non-stop from LAX to Paris! Yippee! We now have about 5 hours less travel time enroute, and into Paris a few hours earlier. ;-)

Shame on Delta for charging me $200 to change the tickets.