A lot going on for us at the end of June. We celebrated (and are still celebrating) my and Susanne’s birthdays, Germany is one step closer to the World Cup title and we actually got out of town 2 weeks in a row!  Oh, and my training is over at my job and I have been on the clock for two weeks now. INCOME! Our second year here in Germany is starting out with us moving up and out getting settled here to moving forward towards our goals. We decided to take some time for ourselves and stop working non-stop and wow has it been fun! I actually shut off the computer, get up and walk away from the computer without getting the shakes and running back to it! I am beginning more myself again. I am taking time to drum again and am working out regularly. I have no idea if I am loosing any weight but I sure as hell feel fit again. Fat and Fit. The new motto! I think I might be loosing a few inches here and there, but I am beginning not to give a crap about that anymore. (Well actually I do give a little crap, but  less than before! ).

So we went to Dusseldorf for my birthday and took a boat ride on the Rhine, then walked through the old part of town and then up one of my favorite streets, Königsallee. The lux shops are there; Tiffany, Chanel, Gucci, Armani etc… I usually don’t like to window shop but I make an exception in this case. After that we met friends over in Essen for dinner. Germany had spanked England in the World Cup match and everywhere people were out in the streets waving flags, driving around with carloads of people shouting, honking horns. Germany is one big party when their team wins. It is a thing most Americans don’t get to see unless you get out of the country. In football, the teams are American, and it involves one country- America.  Even though I was rooting for Brazil, I am having a blast watching all the excitement of the games. Totally cool.  So this weekend we finally made it up to Hamburg and visited a friend there. We did the tourist thing on Saturday, took a couple of boat rides around the many waterways of Hamburg, We saw the port where our stuff  we shipped from America spent some time. I didn’t know that Hamburg actually has more canals than Venice! And they have the most bridges in Europe ( if I understood the guide correctly). It is a cool city, a bit too many people for me but none the less, I would like to see more. We watched the 2nd half of the Germany- Argentina match in a Thai restaurant. I swear the flat screen tv sellers must have make a fortune when the WM comes around. Damn near EVERY restaurant has a flat screen tv for viewing the games.   The outdoor seating is to capacity as well as the indoor seats.  Some restaurants will close early so their employees can see the game. The nation comes (nearly) to a stop for a couple of hours during the  matches. Half the restaurant was filled with Asian people and they were cheering Germany. It was quite funny to see. We actually found a few seats in the back, so we got to eat and see the game. Germany won big again, 4-0, I don’t think Argentina knew what hit them! Germany plays on Wed. against Spain, I have to work but I don’t know if anyone will come watch the movie, If they do,  I should be out of the theater before 9pm. In any case, I’ll take a radio. After Hamburg, we went on to Lubeck, northeast of Hamburg. Susanne’s friend lives there.  We got to see some of the city, the old part of the city was absolutely beautiful. Everything an old European city is. It has tons of charm, beautiful old buildings, the tiny alleyways that lead to  charming courtyards filled with many, many fragrant rose bushes and flowers. Damn, I sound like Rick Steves! Anyway, I highly recommend this place for vacationers. I have pictures, I will probably post them later this week.

Summer is here and our little apartment is a hotbox. I love the heat, but I have never experienced it in an apartment on the 3rd floor with no air conditioning (thank you Florida for spoiling me!), and west facing windows. WE get all the late afternoon sun and we have big windows. I bought a fan last week, we have beach towels in the windows because the double windows get so hot, I can barely touch them and it helps keep the place at a cool 82 degrees!  LOVE IT!  I am seriously thinking about not cooking for the rest of the summer and we will just eat salads and sandwiches. It’s hotter than hell in the kitchen with the stove on.

Well it’s almost 10:30 and I am still worn out from the weekend. Must be getting old. I will leave you with a couple of dance sides from the 70’s, I love disco and am proud of it. Since I can’t figure out how to put two in the right column, I’ll just put 1 here and 1 there. Then I will give the lightbox plugin another try. Hopefully I will have it working and can display my pics in style for the next post.

Lata! Go dance!

KAREN YOUNG – HOT SHOT