pastel perspective

I suppose I immediately began comparing Munich to England. the united states was somewhere else in my mind. Aleks and I had been walking the clean pastel streets of Munich, while snow slowly fell, for only a few hours when i noticed something different. Please do not take this as shallow or an expression an any ill will towards england, but as a general all around subjective opinion, the people in germany are just more attractive. better looking? ageing well? maybe its my own personal aesthetic.

And they obey cross walk signs.

In england, if there is a gap between traffic large enough for a small dog to quickly scurry through then there is plenty of room for a pedestrian to sprint across the street. often causeing cars to quickly break, and their drivers, in that time it takes for them to slow down, to give a friendly annoyed scowl. Aleks made sure i understood that a german driver is much less likely to slow down for any silly pedestrian attempting a cross. Crosswalk etiquette? Its like the living room lava game and stepping on the street when the light is red is simply frowned upon, i suppose.

anyway...i had so much more to write about munich, chai tea latte, oh german food, twin peaks, pastel buildings, madonna, castles, dolly parton, jenny, the devestations, mermaids with eating disorders and well there just isn't any time now that i've procrastinated so much. i apologize. i'll just post some pretty pictures and then get on to another post and studying and traveling and.

are you aware you are seated in an emergecny exit? (Fight Club? a glance around) yes i am. And are you willing and capable of performing the emergency exit procedure? (tyler durden, a look at the guy next to me, is he laughing inside like I am?) sure.

mountain goat syndrome

Its just an itch in the back of your mind when rocks rise up before you. it might just be stepping up on the curb or maybe its a tree or a grassy slope or a long flight of cement stairs leading towards an art museum in philadelphia. the possibility of getting higher, a change in elevation, a vantage point. something makes you go to the top. i don't really understand it. ross told me, "its mountain goat syndrome, i've got it bad". yeah me too.
It turns out that ross also has columbus syndrome; see a body of water and it must be crossed. last week, in an incredible feat of human endurance, ross rowed a boat across the atlantic ocean to come visit me. And when he arrived, after considerable dancing, shouting, frisbee tossing, football watching, and shakespeare lecture listening...we decided there was no way to go but up. to the topper most of the popper most if one were quoting the beatles.
To be short. we headed towards the highest mountain in all of england and wales. caught a train from manchester to bangor in wales and then a bus to caernarfon. really clean, cheap, cozy (owner little weird though seems like a good guy) hostel called totters. wandered the tourist town, castles and fishing, until we ended up exhausted and on top of a hill overlooking everything. MGS (mountain goat syndrome).
Next day. a bus to llanberis and the beautiful countryside of wales. snowdonia national park and the base of snowdon mountain (highest in all of england and wales 3500something). beautiful beautiful hike. lakes, sheep, mountains, 18th century pen-y ceunant isaf tea room near the start of the trail. down the first road behind the rail station. we walk into the tea room after our summit and are greeted by the growling of a friendly black lab who, as it turns out, only understands welsh. and then his eccentric companion, owner of the tea room, speaks english as well, and loves to talk. we're given tea and free slice of cake and praised for our pennsylvania heritage in a country (the US) that deserves to be slandered nearly as much as england. theres a large welsh community in PA so we're ok. luckily we aren't from london. but everyone in wales was really friendly and helpful and beautiful mountains and lots of sheep and rock walls and highest mountain in england and wales. its really easy to get on a bus to any small town and find a cheap place to stay, some decent food and a mountain or two to hike. all in northern wales.