July, July

This summer has been wonderfully busy.

May kicked off the outdoor festival season, June brought a visit from our dear friends from Canada, and July was perfectly paced with travel, fests, family, celebrations, exploration, and friends. However, July also delivered my first tick bite which extremely pissed me off, not to mention it was horrifically gross.

Oregon + Cumulative time spent in fields/wooded areas = Many years. Bites: 0. Infection risk: low.

German + Cumulative time spent in fields/wooded areas = 20 hours, maybe. Bites: 1. Infection risk: SO MUCH HIGHER!!

Not only is there a risk of Lyme Disease there is also this fun little thing called TBE:

"In a first phase the illness begins with fever, head and limb pains (similar to summer flu). In most cases the infection is already over by this time. However, the virus can also attack the central nervous system resulting in meningitis which may be cured without any long-term damage. In an infection which goes badly not only the meninges, but the entire brain (meningoencephalitis) may be affected by the disease and it may result in impairment of consciousness, speech and swallowing, symptoms of paralysis and psychic changes." Source

Most of you know about my hypochondriac tendencies ("I swear to God there is a lump! It's just the top of my rib cage? Oh..."), so this tick-related business should provide enough fodder for many health-related paranoid spirals over the course of the next six months or so. Nurse friends Lori, Andi, Megan - brush up on bug transmitted infectious diseases and your patient soothing skills!

While I didn't take any pictures of this tick horror to subject you to, I did manage to capture many of our enjoyable July experiences. Like my Uncle Matt's visit to Nuremberg at the beginning of the month. He and a friend had been doing the backpacking around Europe thing for a couple weeks and he ended his trip with us. We only had a few days, but we packed them full.

The first day Matt and I dropped Josh off at work and took the car  out in search of
castles, medieval villages, and beer. (Yup, that is my uncle and he is younger than me)

One of the few castles we saw. However we got distracted upon arrival
and by the time we wanted to go inside it was closed for a two hour lunch break.

The source of our distraction - an adorable biergarten in the woods below the castle.
Also, some of the best and cheapest beer I've had in Germany. 

The next day Josh joined us and we went to Würzburg. This is the Prince-Bishop's Residence. 

Creepy statue in the fountain in front of the Residence.

Drinking wine on the pedestrian bridge in Würzburg. Festung Marienberg is
on the hill in the background.

Across from our wine drinking post on the bridge was the site of some sort
of sexual health awareness competition.  Themed groups (Flower-children,
Hell's Angels, punks, etc) cycled through giving singing and dancing performances.

That evening we met up with some friends in a neighboring town so that Matt could
experience an authentic German bier festival. This is the first round of beers and
the only picture acceptable to post on the blog from that night. (photo: Desma Colburn)

The following weekend Josh and I went to Prague to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful and relaxing getaway. Our hotel had overbooked the type of room we reserved, so they upgraded us to the best suite in the house. We had a private rooftop terrace overlooking the entrance to the Charles Bridge.

Terrace view to the right.

Terrace view to the left.

A beautiful Art Nouveau cafe. The cake was decent. The coffee, blah.

A fountain that depicts the glorious art of the male piss? The subjects' hips swivel
as their peens rise and fall. Guess where the water comes out.

The only stairs I've seen that have traffic lights at the top and bottom

A romantic anniversary dinner. Shortly after this was taken, fireworks went off.
And shortly after that, a lantern lighting ceremony took place down river and we watched
them float away over the bridge in the early night's sky. 

And just a few miscellaneous pictures:

After the gluttonous first half of the month, I worked off some of the beer bloat
by hiking and exploring caves in the Fränkische-Schweiz.

A lookout tower we came across on a hike.

Annafest. This is an annual festival celebrating the opening of the cellars where
local breweries store their beer. This takes place in a large forest park and the
cellars are carved into the sides of the hills. Beautiful and debaucherous. 

Adidas threw a London Olympics themed party last weekend on their campus.  A horse-drawn carriage
with royal impersonators, a food stand dedicated to baked beans, and a bridge set up to
look like the Tower Bridge. With misters so one could walk across it with a black umbrella. These were
a few of the more ridiculous things.

The Bardentreffen in Nuremberg. It's a free, outdoor music festival that takes
place on various stages throughout the old city. What's even more entertaining are
the many street musicians of all ages (even kids) who try their hand at busking.  Some
were actually very good, many were not but it was a fun atmosphere.

Oh, and I even sneaked a little 7k fun run in with some of my lady friends. 

So yeah, this summer has been pretty good so far. As always, I miss Oregon but a European summer is a great tonic for the soul. Especially when one does not have to work.