Walking around

Well, the last couple posts have sort of been filler. There's not much one can do when they're crippled. The doctor hasn't gotten back to us yet on what was up with my knee, though it's feeling much better now. A couple days ago Anne and I went to Bautzen which is a cool old town about 18 miles from Hoyerswerda, and it's where I would live if I had to live in Germany. We had a pretty good dinner there, and we walked around and saw all the old buildings and stuff. Torsten had his birthday, so we went over to their place and had dinner and hung out a bit. Everyone seems to be doing pretty good. We also went over to Oma and Opa's to hang out and have dinner. They have a really cool garden house with a nice little lake near by, though we didn't think to take our swimsuits. It seems that swimsuits are, though officially required at that lake, optional. Then yesterday we went with Pe and Axel to the Czech republic to buy groceries for the big party next weekend, the 'Anne and Ted are in Germany' extravaganza. We're doing an American theme with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato chips, fried chicken and lots and lots of beer. We're also trying to find something that will be a good substitute for Margarita mix since it's unavailable in Germany. It was originally supposed to be a fourth of July party, but there's a wedding somewhere that weekend so we had to move it a bit ahead. I also picked up a tasty bottle of Absinthe in the Czech Republic though I've yet to meet any green fairies. Anne's making arrangements for our next round of trips for information gathering. Next week we're heading up to Kiel which is close to Denmark and heading over to Braunshweig which is home to the famously disgusting meat spread. She loves that stuff, but she also loves raw pork. There's a guest house up there where we can stay for cheap so that'll be very nice, and there's a sale on train tickets too!!!
Right now it's actually horribly hot and humid, just like Kansas, and there's a big thunderstorm rolling in. It seems like it rains here a lot, which would explain all the really nice gardens we see. Pe and Axel's garden has been growing like crazy and now looks like something out of the Amazon.
I've started reading all the Harry Potter books so I can be caught up when the last one comes out. I've only previously made it through the first two or three so I've got a bit of reading to do.
I'm expecting that we'll have more interesting stuff to write about if things go as planned for the next few weeks. Just a couple more weeks of research, then the big trip with Pe and Axel. We had to decide, because of our detour to Britain, on whether to visit Belgium or Amsterdam; this was a very hard choice but we have decided on Belgium. This will also guarantee that we will spend the 36 seconds needed to drive across Luxembourg. Anyway, it seems like everyone goes to Amsterdam, who the hell goes to Belgium? And it's the Mecca of beer, which had a lot to do with the decision, so Belgium it is. And out of our disdain for Brussels Sprouts, we will be boycotting Brussels on this trip out of protest; it is a protest against the forcing of every child of the world to sit for extended periods of time at the dinner table staring at those little green globes of Jolly Green Giant poop. No one like Brussels sprouts, so Brussels, you can go to hell, we hate you.