14 November 2010 - Hudson's 20,000 kilometer day!

("Drive" by Vanessa Hudgens)

I think those of you reading this blog realize by now that I have an unusual (I refuse to call it unnatural) bond with my car (codename, Hudson). Under my lease, I am allotted 20,000 kilometers per year, so at 1.5 years into the lease I should have about 30,000 kilometers on him. Alas, as of the beginning of this past week, I was only about to finally (FINALLY!) crack the 20,000 barrier. I had planned a long road trip this summer that would have helped in this regard, but it was scrapped for a variety of reasons. But I thought it would be wrong, just WRONG, for him to hit 20,000 kilometers on something as mundane as the commute to work. No, he needed the wind on his shield, the asphalt of the Autobahn under his summer shoes, the bugs sucked into his grill. We needed, in short, a roadtrip. So a roadtrip we had.

Borrowing from my aborted summer roadtrip playbook, we (yes, I refer to us collectively) headed south. We drove from Frankfurt to Stuttgart on Friday night and stayed at the Le Meridien Stuttgart that is easily one of my favorite SPG properties in Germany (though the ramps to their underground garage are wickedly narrow!). Then on Saturday morning, we went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart (see separate posting) so Hudson could recall the superiority of his own provenance (why have a three-spoke star when you can have four rings????). And then on we drove to Lenggries, which is in southern Bavaria about an hour out of Munich.

So, why Lenggries? Well, let's be honest, it was only on my not-so-familiar-with-Bavaria radar because it is home to a Starwood property, the Four Points Sheraton Brauneck. Brauneck refers to the nearest mountain, Lenggries being at the foot of an area known both for its skiing and hiking. A very good start. Did a bit more research and it seemed like it might be a nice, restful destination.

The hotel was in "downtown" Lenggries, rather than a bit further out in the wilderness or higher up in the mountains than I had hoped. But it was fine, albeit what I would refer to as a "humble" property - clean with friendly staff but no bells and whistles like an executive lounge or an upgrade to a suite. The proximity to greater metropolitan Lenggries was interesting, though, and I thought a nice wander and perhaps some retail therapy were in order. I arrived around 4 PM, which unfortunately was the time that all the stores in the quaint little town closed. Doh! It was also getting dark, so I only had a little bit of time to wander around. But the next morning I awoke at the crack of dawn as sunlight filtered in over the tops of the mountain peaks and decided to set out for a wander in the town and the woods at the base and leading into the mountains. Both were really, really quite pretty as you can see by the picture posted above.

But after the hike as I headed back from the mountains and was passing by what appeared to be the primary village church, it looked like something was about to happen. There were a few people standing around in Bavarian attire who seemed to be waiting for something. Hmmm... And then I saw a group of guys standing around in a sort of Bavarian uniform -- with drums!! Something certainly was going to happen. I mean, you don't just have a drummer gathering without expecting something to happen, right? So I decided to hang around, even though I didn't have my cool leather coat that I bought in Austria that might allow me to at least kind of blend. My thistle-colored (okay, lilac or light purple) Marmot shell wasn't quite so blending.... But in any event or color, I was not to be disappointed.

After standing quietly and trying not to look too American, the event started. The drummers picked up their drums, as did a Bavarian band with their instruments. And out of the old town church began a very large procession of men in Bavarian attire carrying a

variety of colorful flags and banners. Hmmmm.... The drummers led the band and the rest of the entourage around the small square, stopping in an angled formation around a podium that had been set up and was swathed in the German flag. Next to it was a sort of eternal flame that was burning - not Olympic size, but sufficiently sized for this venue. In the background, the German and Bavarian flags flapped in the crisp breeze. A Catholic priest made a short speech, which was followed by a considerably longer one from a protestant minister, and then the priest led the audience in reciting the Lord's Prayer.

It was all very fascinating and very somber. It clearly related to remembering those who had died. This was a few days after 11 November when Veterans Day and Remembrance Day take place in the US and the UK, respectively, so I assumed that this event was related somehow to that. My nascent German skills picked up quotes on not forgetting the dead, there were some references to World War II, and the names of the eight German soldiers who had perished in Afghanistan this year were also read. Even though I didn't understand everything, I still found the experience very moving, much as my eyes always fill with tears when the US flag is waving and we're singing the national anthem or even saying the pledge of allegiance (the latter of which I can't remember when I participated in that, but it has been far too long).

I did a bit more research when I got home on this celebration and it turns out that it is slightly different than the holidays in the US and UK. Germany does not celebrate the armistice itself, but has a national day of mourning which seems to be more similar to All Saints Day that I celebrated a few years ago in Guatemala. Germany's national day of mourning (Volkstrauertag) has been celebrated since 1952 and is held on the Sunday before the first Sunday of Advent. While it is a secular holiday, churches have their own special take on the holiday, with the Catholic church celebrating All Souls Day and the Lutheran church celebrating Eternity Sunday. So I'm guessing the protestant minister who spoke may have been Lutheran.

All in all, Hudson logged about 1,000 kilometers on this trip. He arrived home dirty with quite a few bugs on the windshield and in the grill (apparently we haven't had cold enough weather to kill them all yet?) but a lovely twinkle in his daytime running lamps.

7 March 2010 - Leipzig Roadtrip

[Take your pick of Bach's Brandenburg concertos.]

I have 20,000 kilometers per year available under my lease for Hudson. His "birthday" is coming up at the beginning of May, yet I realized that I hadn't even tipped 10,000 kilometers. Miles are a terrible thing to waste.... So I decided it was time to begin taking longer roadtrips. Looking at my map (a colleague gave me a huge one that I have now hung in my hallway, which I love, but is probably not very aesthetically pleasing, as evidenced by said colleague's wife refusing to let him hang the map in their home -- but since I don't have a wife....), I randomly decided that it was time to visit Leipzig. This selection was based primarily on two considerations -- the up-and-back drive seemed doable in an overnight trip and Leipzig happens to have a Luxury Collection property from Starwood that seemed a steal at €125/night. All that, plus a colleague was also up for the adventure and not dissuaded by my disclosure that I have a navigation system and driving tour book, but I might divert course at anytime if something of interest arose.

We left Saturday afternoon and, despite predictions of rain, it was a beautiful, sunny day and perfect driving weather. Our first stop along the way was Wartburg Castle. If you put on your Christian history cap, you may recall this as the place where Martin Luther hung out after being excommunicated by the pope. I didn't realize that he translated the New Testament into German here as well. It is on the top of a ridge and a nice drive up there, followed by a walk to the to that is both breathtaking and leaves one breathless with the steep climb. Really beautiful views all around. Nice grounds, though part of the castle was under construction and neither the tower nor the baths areas were open. There are also some cannons along the wall, which one of the Sarah Palin action figures could not resist (who DOESN'T want to ride the war machine?)

It was a bit chilly, so we ducked into the little restaurant/coffee shop for some kirschkuchen (cherry coffeecake) and some coffee. It was a quaint place, but quite packed. Anyway, the waiter asked if we were Americans. We confirmed that we were and a short while later he came out and planted a red, white and blue flag/pennant on our table. We were unclear whether it was to mark us clearly as the non-German in the room or as a gesture of welcoming, but chose to believe the latter. Nevertheless, the other patrons looked at us a bit strangely. We decided to milk it for all it was worth and had our picture taken there for the true tourist experience.

Wartburg is located in/next to the town of Eisenach, so we took a quick stroll through the town since we were there. Unbeknownst to us, this is said to be Bach's birthplace. There is both Bach Haus where he was allegedly born (and which is now a museum), next to which has been constructed a new and quite modern-looking Bach museum designed by a student of Frank Gehry. Who knew? Alas, it was getting late in the day and both venues seemed to be closed. But the musical features didn't end there. No-sirree-bob. The big church in town was hosting that night a World Gospel Tour concert and another place was hosting an All-80s party that began at the same time. Such options were just too diffcult for us to choose between, so we choose to continue the still-long roadtrip to Leipzig.

Now, I love Hudson and his/her navigation system. But they are in no way infallible. For example, we were to take the A4 autobahn (not to be confused with the excellent Audi vehicle of the same name) for part of the journey to Leipzig. Except there was construction. And a brand new section of road. For whatever reason, the A4 just seemed to end in construction at one point with no way to proceed and no detour noted. Hmmm.... Fortunately, my driving tour book had some paper maps in the back and I was able to point Hudson in a different direction that linked up with the A4 later. But part of that new section of the A4 was not apparently in Hudson's navigation system. He noted that we were "offroad" and started kind of freaking out, something like Robot on "Lost in Space" when he starts just flailing his arms about saying, "Danger, Will Robinson, danger!" Except Hudson just kept saying in German something in the way of, "Seriously, it is ill-advised for you to be cruising at 180 kph offroad. You should turn aroud and get back on the highway. NOW!" I guess I need to contact the dealer and see what the process is for getting his maps updated.

Leipzig was nice and I really enjoyed the hotel, the Hotel Fürstenhof, which upgraded me to a nice junior suite. I did not have the chance to see their indoor pool, but it really looked nice online and my colleague confirmed that it was also quite nice in person. Instead, I took an exploratory run around the city in the rain the next morning, which was not quite so pleasant as a swim in the pool, I suspect.

You may recall how much I love Mexican food and the difficulty I have had in finding some over here. So imagine my delight when I saw a reputable-looking place called "La Enchilada" across the street. Oddly enough, though, the menu in the window did not include any, um, enchiladas. Such a tease....

There were quite a few interesting sites to see, but the most memorable was nowhere to be found on the city map. I was roaming around and thought I heard seeing some people singing. Hmmm... I went to investigate. It was a Cossack Choir. Not joking. Guys dressed up in some interesting uniforms of a sort and singing with much gusto. So much so that I actually bought their CD, which unfortunately contained more Russian Orthodox hymns than the things they were singing live, which were more akin to a soundtrack you might expect for a Russian submarine saga or something.

5 May 2009 - Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

[Just with the Cinco de Mayo reference, I feel I should give a Latin track. I'm going with La Camisa Negra from Juanes, who is perhaps almost as hot as my May 5 delivery, as described below. Almost.]

Hudson has finally arrived and it has been worth the wait. Such a handsome devil with such menacing-looking “eyes” as you can see in the photo (but which are even more fierce when you see them in your rear view mirror approaching at a rapid speed).

As I believe I reported earlier, it took about 2.5 hours for the dealer and I to come up with the configuration for this specific vehicle, versus the one or two minutes it might take in the US due to reliance on packages and far fewer individual options. It took about the same amount of time to explain the features to me, which took place in a special car delivery room at the dealer. The salesperson was kind enough to do so in English, though I have insisted on keeping the controls in German which will be a bit challenging.

For those of you who care, here are a few specs:
- Audi A5
- Deep sea blue pearl effect (not quite Priser Blue)
- 3.0 TDI (oh yes, diesel.... Can you hear the throaty growl through this blog?)
- Six-speed Tiptronic transmission with paddle shifters (yes, I got an automatic)
- Quattro with sport suspension
- 19” wheels

So, why Hudson? Well, the sleek and hard lines of the car strike me as very masculine, like a guy with a six pack (of abs, not beer). So I wanted a good German-sounding first name. I was leaning toward Fritz when I went to configure the vehicle and the salesperson noted that, um, “Fritz” would be speaking with a woman’s voice on the navigation system. Ohhh…. So I solicited input from people on androgynous sounding German names and all they came up with was Kim. I am not driving a car named Kim (like Bonnie is so much better….). So I was discussing this with one of my best friends (code name Green and as mentioned in the back home posting) and she volunteered to allow me to use the name she has in mind for a daughter, should she ever have one. That’s right – Hudson. I liked it. Not exactly German, but it reminded me of several things. Rock Hudson. (No, not that awful Hudson Hawk flick with Bruce Willis.) The Hudson River. And let’s not forget the Hudson brand of American automobiles that was phased out in the 50s or 60s after AMC bought it. (Seriously, though, what were they thinking? That people would really rather buy a Nash or a Rambler than a Hudson?)

So there you have it. I could go on about the individual options, but, well, I’d rather go back down in the garage, curl up in a supple leather seat, pop in a DVD, put a beverage in a cupholder, open the sunroof, and have an androgynously-romantic movie night with Hudson.