Jetzt geht's los, und Austria...

Travel:
We arrived Munich on Friday, after pulling off an entire row to myself on the flight from Atlanta to Munich (score). Spent the morning at Kathryn's office and then headed to Kitzbuehel, Austria for the weekend. I hadn't been to Austria since 1987, and you'd think nothing had changed. People were friendly, Gasthaeuse everywhere, and a few signs of the times, cell towers and such. Our hosts made us a nice dinner and we did our best to stave off jetlag by drinking and staying up late so we could sleep that first night. It worked, and I slept for eight of the ten hours. Next morning we lingered over a traditional breakfast of broetchen, cheese, coffee, eggs, etc. and then hit the slopes. The weather was gorgeous, and we all had a great time, a few bruises notwithstanding. We had hoped to hike on the mountain the next day, but high winds forced closure of all the lifts. We headed to Salzburg for the morning instead, and looked around there--quite the mix of history and architecture. In the cathedral, I had the overwhelming feeling of Jed's presence, so K and I lit a candle, tears flowing. I can't ever quite put a finger on it, but it's something about the unfairness of it all--just getting to drop into Salzburg on a whim, and it's another beautiful day. We hiked up to the fortress above the city (not for the unfit) and enjoyed a spectacular view. The wind was really impressive by now, and we feared we would be blown off the ramparts. After a nice lunch in a cave of an Irish pub (literally), we piled back in the car and headed back to Munich. K and colleagues start their sessions Monday morning.

Beer: Kaiser pils (Austria) had an overwhelming off flavor, which I think was DMS. I kept expecting Lyn or Keith to pop out of the woodwork to let me know what they had spiked it with, because it was WAY more intense than the same off flavor presented at Siebel. Wished I had my notes; I still have a hard time with the names even though I clearly recognize the presence of something off.

Also had a weissbier (Austria--also Kaiser?) that was unremarkable. Lastly had a very enjoyable Stiegl pils that was quite refreshing. Cool glass too--sort of a tall alt glass but bent in a curve to one side.