The Sound of Pillows...

walk through a castle? CHECK.
see a 2-story McDonalds? CHECK.
drink a red bull in the very place where it comes from? CHECK.
eat red curry thai chicken at the restaurant in the BMW museum / factory? CHECK.

it has been an eventful day... and at the end of it, I land in - what appears to be - a bed the size of an olympic pool at the Four Points hotel in Munich Germany.
honestly, I cannot wait to sleep. so I apologize ahead of time for my brief synopsis of what the day brought ('or should I say braut).

wait... what was that you said? you challenge me to a RUN-ON SENTENCE DUEL????!!!

WELL, how could I possibly turn that down after the early start that I had this morning so that I could start our drive off to Salzburg Austria where all the tour buses accumulate and clog up the museum and everything-else-that's-interesting drain with their camera straps, audio head-sets, and obnoxious guide that requests all 84 of them cross the same bridge at the same time that we have to (doh!) in order to get to the most awesomest Festung Hohensalzburg ever that showcased so many torture devices it made me timid to remain in what clearly looked to be a psychotic little town (or at least used to be) before The Sound of Music decided to shoot in their hills - which we didn't visit since I don't believe in twirling in the mountains so freely like that, at least not on an empty stomach, which I then filled with bread and a salat with pesto pumpkin seeds, balsamic dressing, and sheep's milk cheese (I am pretty positive that may have been the best salat ever. and 'pretty positive' for me is something I never say) which then gave me enough fuel to hit the gas pedal and drive another couple of hours without falling asleep to Munich Germany, then walk briskly through Olympic Park and then leisurely to my room where these wonderful down-feather pillows - when turned upside-down then right-side-up whisper my name (like those little tins that moo).

good run-on ja? now where's my medal.

in other news...
...what Munich built for the 1972 Olympics is amazing - architecture ahead of its time.
...castles are far too claustrophobic for my anxiety's taste. thank goodness I toured one finally - I will now retract my bid from that one in Los Gatos I was looking at.
...another plus to walking miles upon miles every day? buying NEW SHOES when my current ones fall apart. yeeeeeeaah buddy.

showering: a waste of time no matter where you are

now that I have finally figured out what day it is... happy Thursday!

to all my California friends: the day is almost over and then, just one more before you can start your crazy weekend plans. but really, I don't think Friday even qualifies as a day. it should really just be called 'Fri'.
I know you all concur therefore... moving along.

after a restless night of sleep for me, I got up to do some necessary laundry in the sink... and then strung the clothes up on a line through the living / bedroom. I am sure the housekeeping crew appreciated all the striped socks and undies on display - and they didn't even leave a tip.
we ran downstairs to grab a quick bite and then headed downtown to catch a Nordkette up to the Austrian Alps.
while the tram was highly decorated with Australian and Japanese tourists exchanging broken HELLO's in each other's languages, there were also some hard-core local slalom bikers joining in on the ride. when there is no snow on the mountain, bike jumps and trails and structures are available and... I am pretty sure you need to be high on not one - but several - different things in order to attempt these trails. good thing drug-infested Zurich is just around the corner!

I digress...
after tramming up 5500 feet in 20 minutes the view was... amazeballs - and it just kept getting better as we hiked the rest of the few feet up to the vista. which is - evidently - the Ibex's most favorite location to lay a poo (photo below. photo NOT of the poo, rather just the Ibex). fortunately we did not see a single Ibex in person (I don't like things with horns. unless it's a unicorn)... instead we were stuck with just the poo on our shoes as evidence that they had been there (and been there recently). thank you Ibex.

we grabbed some very authentic and yum lunch while on the mountain and then I fell asleep back at the hotel... dreaming of picking out a Lady Gaga costume for Halloween and then eventually deciding everything was way too riskay for me to wear and then I woke up, ate some chocolate, ate some salad, sipped a coffee, The End.

in other news...
...showering - it sucks whether I am at home or on holiday.
...sauerkraut is way better in Austria and is entirely different from what I remember my dad purchasing at the hockey game in 1993 when I first tried it.
...you know you are in a wiener-heavy city when the ketchup packets they produce are big enough for one whole wiener. Austrians = so smart.
...to my friend Marisa (the only person to throw a request my way): I give you the closest thing I could find to an Austrian knitted item below. it was in the window of a kindergarten.

check bitte!

ooh Tuesday. no, Wednesday. NO - TUESday. I don't know.
whatever day it is, it has been long.

after a croissant and a latte at a place called Hot Pasta (?) we said Auf Wiedersehen to Zurich and partook in some "loud speaking" at one another in the car while trying to follow road laws and directions from a GPS and Blackberry that refused to talk to any and all satellites in the world until... finally... we were on the highway.
destination: Innsbruck Austria.

the scenery changed immediately from clean bustling city streets to large open hills of green sprinkled with bell-wearing skinny cows. I really expected to see a blonde woman with double braids selling fresh butter on the side of the road but evidently all of them were busy - must be butter-churning season.

I took a stab at driving after we admired all the nutella at the gas station and man - 120 kph is deceivingly, very much-so... NOT FAST. and with all the fixed radar guns and cameras on the road, you do not want to push the limit (I am pretty sure I will have a few tickets in the mail when I get home).
5 (or 10) Gran Turismo-like tunnels later - at a blazing speed of 65 mph - and... destination reached.

Innsbruck is far more touristy than I would have liked - all the old couples wearing matching leiderhosen with price tags still attached and large groups of tour-attendees all wearing matching tacky neck-bandanas make me want to scurry back to my room BUT - the view of the Alps just isn't the same from there.
I am surrounded by snow-tipped lush mountains and incredibly humbled. to think - just last week there I was in my California mole-hole for 29 years completely satisfied with Yosemite - convinced I was lucky to be living so close to it. HMPH.
there's bigger beauty in the world.
and with better strudels too.

tomorrow we take a Nordkette (tram) up the mountain to Seegrube, meander around like we're on holiday and then locate a restaurant that offers a better dinner than the open-faced turkey "burger" I had tonight - complete with 2 pineapple circles and 2 cherries.
and yes - they looked just like boobs.

in other news...
...when receiving amazing strudel with powdered sugar, do not look down and breathe out in awe.
...the McDonald's here really DOES have a Hamburger Royale on the menu. it also is furnished like the nice section in Ikea (*obscure and generally vague photo included below).
...photo / adventure requests? submit them and maybe I'll make them happen. maybe.

yoghurt mit fruchten. danka.

bicycles, designer jeans, and Thai food.
that is the answer to: What 3 things will Kathleen remember forever about Zurich Switzerland?
after sitting through a flight in which my neighbor pooped her pants and my neighbor's neighbor barfed 4 times while landing, I find myself in Zurich - where Seattle meets San Francisco meets Manhattan.
*neighbors were 6 months and 3 years old but seriously, I don't care - that was really disgusting and should have been avoided.

Zurich has the cleanliness of Seattle, the city and art of San Francisco, and the fashion of Manhattan. combine all that with stunning German-speaking people and a few snowy mountains in the background and BAM - I give you Zurich.

if you have a shopping addiction, don't come here. I visited 2 H+M's and a store that had more designer jeans and the most-excellent white button shirts I have ever seen before I forbid myself to walk in to any more clothing shops. some other interesting tidbits? how about the fact that Zurich has no stop signs; the St. Peter's church which holds the oldest clock tower in all of Europe; and the Lindt chocolate factory which offered me a smell that made me think I was in an oven with a dozen cookies - minus the burning sensation.

tomorrow morning we leave Zurich and drive our rented Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback (they were out of BMWs) to Austria. and after 12 hours of walking today... I couldn't be happier to sit my butt down in a car for an extended period of time tomorrow.

in other news...
...horizontal stripes are "in". I get it - thank you pirate / sailor society of Swizterland.
...saw a single rainbow today while cruising to the Lindt factory through Lake Zurich - it was so bright and vivid.
...the Indian buffet I had dinner at - while being pretty good - thinks naan is a giant baked tortilla chip. nein. definitely NEIN
....shiza. time for bed.

to toes!

feet are funny little things. we walk, stand, run, use them all day. they reveal nerves, move to music, march around, get dressed up, take us places, and - my personal favorite - have toes that wiggle me to sleep. yet despite all the rough things they go through, the meeting of that one little toe and the corner of the bed post? tragic.

how can these things trek so hard but hurt so much?

well, if I could just make a toast... to toes! and the the feet that grew them. may they carry me swiftly across bridges, softly through waters, and soundly in my sleep.

it's... aLIVE

sometimes I am just too tired to make sense.

thus, I deny myself permission to blog and instead grant myself permission to fall in love with my personalized soundtracks.

therefore I present to you, jumbled lyrics from my latest 19 track musical frankenstein.

*high tens to anyone that can ‘name that song’… for at least 3.

..................................................

I know that we are young

and I know that you may love me

but I wish I lived in the golden age

giving it up on the broadway stage

flying away from reality

whatever happened to gravity

You don't want to hurt me

but see how deep the bullet lies

You left me in the dark

in the shadow of your heart

I want a man by my side

not a boy who runs and hides

i cant tell you what it really is i can only tell you what it feels like

I feel like I can’t miss

I know you want me to fall

Jumping out the window

Letting everything go

I bring it to the light, Its only right

She say she want whatever she like

She say she gonna bring her friend

You smashed a plate over my head

then I set fire to our bed

where are you my friend so true

how come my love gone make you blue

my heart thump not from being nervous

sometimes i think i was made on purpose

dry my eyes so you wont know

dry my eyes so i wont show

shock me like an electric eel

you'll feel the need. there is no way to return.

turn me on with your electric feel

My life is one big rhyme, I try to scheme through it

so tell me when my sigh's over

you're the reason why i'm closed

to auto-focus!

to have a challenge is to have a purpose.

sometimes 'according to plan' evolves in to 'flying by the seat of your pants'. and honestly - I mean - who doesn't like flying? if I recall correctly (which I always do), I used to spend lots of money every summer to let disgruntled gum-smacking vest-wearing teenagers strap me down in metal containers and press a button that would then shoot me through spirals and loopty-loops - the most exhilarating moments being those fractions of seconds where my body felt negative weight... my well-practiced shoulder straps and buckles being the only things touching me and keeping me alive.

over-used plastic and metal: don't fail me now.

and then - when the moving and the rush is over - and the body realizes it is still functioning, it takes me to the end of the line again. a lemming lining up for another feeling.

oh you endless thrills of summers passed. if only you weren't accompanied by all the shirtless, nipple-pierced, over-tattooed, and overweight men that waited in line around me.

in other news...

...Lady Gaga concert days away. time to get crafty - with an outfit.

...Europe trip weeks away. time to get crafty - with a wardrobe.

...best friend's wedding days past. yay for Amy and Bobby! boo for the only picture of me delivering my toast.