Quality Time with our family, friends, Pink & Dracula

A lot has happened since the last blog post and I am not just talking about American politics. I'm sure you don't read this blog to learn about the assassination attempt or Biden dropping out of the race, so here is an update from our own little world:

The main reason for us to come to Germany for so long is to spend quality time with our family. But occasionally we were able to include some quality time with an international pop star and with Dracula or at festivals or other events. 

Party like you're 19, not 89!

Spending quality time with Sandra's mom can be very easy, sometimes. She can be the sweetest lady and it's pretty obvious that she is very happy and thankful to have us here. Other times, she is almost comically impatient. It's less comical when she is totally oblivious to the fact that Petra might occasionally need a break from the double duty of work and caring for mom.

Ministerpräsident Kretschmann,
Governor of Baden-Württemberg
at the StartUp BW Summit

We attended the "StartUp BW Summit" in Stuttgart. We do not anticipate starting a company or working for a start-up company in Germany, neither does Sandra's 89 year old mom. But Sandra's sister works for the Ministry of Economics of Baden-Württemberg, so we went to her big event. It was interesting to get a glimpse into her work life. And as a newly naturalized American citizen, it was also satisfying to hear how much the American culture of entrepreneurism is still very much revered in the start up business scene in Europe. Seeing that America is still known as a land of opportunity and youthful ambition was even more reassuring two weeks ago, back in the day when we still had only two senile candidates to choose from. However, I have to admit I was a little jealous hearing the governor of Baden Württemberg speak. He seems pretty reasonable.

Pink Concert and Petra's biggest birthday party

Sandra always wanted to see Pink in concert. Petra always enjoys having a big birthday party. So it was serendipitous timing that Pink performed on Petra's birthday in Stuttgart. As much as we enjoyed the Stones and the Scorpions, I have to admit it was refreshing to see an artist from this millennium for a change. I did not realize how many of her songs I know (and love!). Pink is an incredible performer, a great acrobat and she has the perfect attitude (and hair!) to perform in the rain. I think it's impossible to attend a Pink concert and not liking her. The other 60,000 people seemed to agree.

Not sure whether this video plays, but if it does,
 it's worth it to see Pink fly through the arena

Stuttgart also had one of those immersive art exhibits, this one about Leonardo DaVinci's Last Supper. This painting has special meaning to us since 2007. At the exhibit, they didn't mention our rendition of The Last Supper at Halloween in Lahaina, but it was interesting to learn more about the painting and about Da Vinci. 

Our Last Supper from Halloween in Lahaina in 2007
in front of a life size replica at the immersive Da Vinci exhibit.

When Sandra and I visit a city, we always enjoy going up on observation towers of any kind to get an overview. In Rottweil, close to our hometowns, we even skipped visiting the city and went straight to the tower. It's a very special tower: It was built in 2017 by Thyssen Krupp to test elevators. In fact, at the time it was the tallest elevator test tower in the world and at 232m, it still has the highest observation deck in all of Germany. They develop a new kind of elevator here, elevators with no wires that can also go sideways and can have multiple cabins in one shaft. The Berlin airport and the Stuttgart train station made me question it, but apparently the stereotypical German ingenuity and clever engineering is alive and well in Rottweil.

The 800+ feet tall Test Tower 
in Rottweil

We always enjoy going back to Munich to see our college friends. Just to make our European travel itinerary easier, our niece moved to Munich, too. As an extra bonus the Tollwood Festival was happening at my beloved Olympic Park and our friends in Starnberg hosted a party for the final of the Euro 2024 soccer championships, unfortunately without German participation on the field. 

Euro 2024 soccer final in the "NixenArena"

American Football game of the Munich Cowboys

At the Tollwood Festival with Linnea and Marianne

Our own little college reunion

Our own little Family Reunion in Munich

Sir James, the newest
member of the family

My former office,
 the Olympic Park in Munich

We spent five days in Langenargen on the Bodensee, Germany's largest lake, right along the Swiss and Austrian border. We loved our little hotel, centrally located with a great restaurant and a very impressive history: The restaurant and the Hotel Engel have been run by the same family for 299 years! We might actually come back for their 300 year anniversary next year. There is plenty to do in and around Langenargen:

Replicas of 3-6,000 year old "Pfahlbauten"
 (pile dwellings) in Unteruhldingen

On the way to Langenargen we visited the Pfahlbauten in Unteruhldingen. These pile dwellings were very popular 3,000 to 6.000 years ago in lakes in this area. They told us they built these types of houses in and around lakes for protection, for direct access to fishing grounds and for easy trading routes. But I can't help but wonder whether they also enjoyed the scenic beauty. Or is this just our somewhat spoiled modern perspective?

A lake on the lake stage -
the set designer in Bregenz continues to amaze me!

We don't always go to the opera. But when we do, we prefer the Bregenzer Festspiele. The Lake Stage is always spectacular, this year it even included a lake on the stage which is built on a lake. We took a behind the scenes tour of the stage and enjoyed the German opera "Der Freischütz"...and the fact that the rain storm waited until after the end. 

Opera spectacle at the Bregenzer Festspiele

As you can see, the opera in Bregenz is a very popular production and we had reserved our tickets well in advance. On the other end of the spectrum was the local production of Dracula just down the promenade from our hotel in Langenargen. But this surprise addition to our event-ful summer was just as enjoyable as the big production in Bregenz.

Cast of the Dracula play in Langenargen

A small local production, but with amazingly talented actors. It was actually scary how good the actor in the role of Count Dracula was. He gave me the chills. The set on stage was not as elaborate, but who needs a set with an actual castle on one side and a sunset over the lake on the other side...

Dracula performance in front of the Langenargen Castle,
an unexpected highlight of our trip

Here are some more impressions from our quality family time. We feel very blessed that we can take so much time here, especially with our parents. Joy and our Maui and Colorado Ohana will just have to wait, but we do miss them, so eventually will come back!

The two sisters at Church

What do you do if your mom
 insists on ordering an ice cream sundae
that she will never ever eat?

Joint exercise of German and American
paratroopers on the Bodensee

The cute town of Langenargen, viewed from the castle

So this is where
German beer is grown!

Quality time with my parents includes quality food 

..and colorful quality drinks!

So far my dad and I are taking turns
playing quality chess 

Tschüss from Germany,

Chris & Sandra

The Magic of the Moment on a Glory Night

We come to Germany mostly to spend time with our family and eat pretzels. But this year, our first two weeks in Europe have been “surprisingly eventful”. By that I mean full of events that we didn’t really plan before we started this trip: 

Who would have thought that a Swiss town would organize a huge spectacle for our arrival? Or that one of the biggest rock bands will ever come to play in my little hometown? Or that the Swiss and the German Ultimate Frisbee championships would be held so close together that I could watch both my nieces play on the same day? Or that my favorite German singer would host an evening honoring my least favorite performer…let me take you to a few magical moments on some glorious nights:

The little town of Einsiedeln in Switzerland is known for the impressive historical Einsiedeln Abbey. Every few years since 1924 the abbey is used as a spectacular backdrop for a big theatrical production, where the whole town participates. It was scheduled for the summer of 2020, but was postponed shortly before the opening, probably because they heard that we weren’t coming. So they moved it to 2024 to coincide with our arrival and just maybe also to avoid the pandemic. As an extra bonus, this made it 100 years after the first performance and my brother has an impressive talent to find centennial events for us.

"The Great World Theatre" in front of the Einsiedln Abbey

They always perform the same grandiose play that is appropriately called “The Great World Theatre” (“Welttheater”). The original version was written 400 years ago by a guy called Calderon. We had never heard of him, but apparently he was the Steven Spielberg of the 1600’s in Europe. The performance included over 500 performers and was a very spectacular spectacle about nothing less than good & evil, god & the world and the meaning of life.

We made it to Germany in time for my dad’s birthday. The next day was historic for our family: My dad and I got to watch both my nieces play in two different national ultimate frisbee championships: Linnea played in Freiburg in the German mixed division, Ronja in Basel in the Swiss women’s division. And to top it all off, Germany played its first game in the knock out phase of the Euro 2024 soccer championship, which of course is an omnipresent event in Europe.

Ronja back in action
at the Swiss Ultimate Championships

We have driven past the golf courses around Sandra's hometown many times. But golf was a very elitist sport when we grew up. I didn't even know anyone who played golf and never thought about playing until I came to America. Things have changed and we finally were able to play a round at the local course with Sandra's cousin.

They finally let the riff-raff into the local golf club

BAP was my and Sandra’s favorite German band when we grew up. Their founder and singer Wolfgang Niedecken currently tours with a very unique show: He performs songs from his artistic inspiration, Bob Dylan. He sings his own and Dylan songs in English and German, but mostly in Kölsch (Explanation for American readers: Kölsch is not just a beer, but also the dialect from Cologne). He also reads excerpts from his book about his trip through the United States following in the footsteps of Bob Dylan. 

I have very mixed feelings about Bob Dylan. I admire his creative genius, but he is also the worst performer or entertainer I have ever seen. His show on Maui a few years ago was just terrible. He never once said ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’ and managed to make even iconic songs like ‘Blowing in the Wind’ or ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ unrecognizable. In fact it was even hard to recognize when a song started or ended, because it all sounded the same. The event was traumatic enough that Sandra did not even want to hear her childhood hero sing, if he was singing Bob Dylan songs. So I convinced my parents to join me.

Wolfgang Niedecken sings Bob Dylan songs
way better than Bob Dylan

I, and even my parents, loved the evening. The Dylan songs sounded much better than when Bob Dylan sang them and they were clearly recognizable even in Kölsch. I liked the very talented keyboarder who accompanied Niedecken better than the whole band Bob Dylan brought to Maui. But my favorite part was when Wolfgang Niedecken described how he took a friend to a Bob Dylan concert to show his friend why he admired this genius musical master. The atmosphere at the concert was great right up until Bob Dylan hit the stage. Niedecken’s description of Dylan’s lame performance was almost word for word the same as my description of Dylan’s uninspiring performance on Maui. Niedecken gave his friend credit for suffering through 45 minutes before disappearing to the beer tent. 

All these evenings had magical moments and could be described as glorious. But the most magical, surprising and surreal event was still to come. I can honestly say that I have never been more stunned than when I read that the Scorpions will come to play in my little hometown. They only perform six shows in Germany on their European tour this year. There are over 1,000 towns in Germany that are larger than Breisach. Actually, the population of my hometown is smaller than the 12,500 people who attended to the concert. 

My cute little hometown Breisach doubled in
population during the Scorpions concert

What made this all even more special for us was that our Maui friends Ovick and Karine joined us (we had never even seen each other outside of Hawaii). Ovick spent his birthday traveling through half of France to spend a weekend with Alice Cooper, our family and the Scorpions. Ovick might or might not be responsible for the world wide success of the Scorpions: He followed them way before they were superstars and brought an album from his cousin in Hannover to the US.

Our Maui friends came to cheer with us
for the Scorpions...and for Germany

The day Ovick and Karine arrived, Germany and France played their quarter finals at the Euro 2024, so we watched the games together. Good thing we had a French guest; that way we had something to cheer that night. France won on penalty kicks against Italy while Germany was kicked out in a very dramatic game by Spain.

The next day was the big event: The first ever “Pinot and Rock” festival in Breisach. I am so proud of my little hometown to pull this off. When I first heard that the Scorpions play in Breisach, I thought it might be a joke or at best an unplugged show since we don’t really have a venue that the Scorpions could play in. But they set up a huge stage on what is usually a campground. I didn’t even know our electric grid was robust enough for that kind of show. The only reminder that we are still countryside: During the concert, they made an announcement for those who might get stuck in the mud on the field that was used as a parking lot: "Don't worry, we'll have tractors standing by to pull you out...".

Happy Birthday, Ovick!

As if the Scorpions in Breisach weren’t special enough, the festival also included Alice Cooper! An Alice Cooper show is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get, but I guess he is always bombastic, shocking, theatrical, loud and awesome. Not sure whether he always gets beheaded on stage, but nothing would surprise me anymore.

The two concerts were over three hours of very entertaining ‘shock and awe’. Alice Cooper more shock and the Scorpions more awe. We were maybe 25 feet away from the stage. Here just a few 'magical moments that made the night particularly glorious':

* The Scorpions changed the lyrics of “Wind of Change”. The song was originally inspired by the end of the cold war. They replaced the lines praising Russia’s new openness with a clear message of solidarity with Ukraine. 

* The line about “the magic of the moment on a glory night” seemed extremely befitting for this event and has been stuck in my head ever since. Hence the title of this post.

* The Scorpions performing “Big City Nights” in my small hometown maybe the biggest irony I have ever experienced in my life!

* Klaus Meine, the founder and singer of the Scorpions seemed to enjoy speaking German for a change. He remembered a trip in their beat up tour bus over 40 years ago to Colmar, just across the French border from Breisach.

* Alice Cooper performing “School’s Out” just a few hundred meters from my high school was 35 years late, but still surreal.

* When Alice Cooper asked for votes in the song “Elected”, I think at least all the Americans in the audience were ready to vote
for him.

Alice Cooper for President!

The Scorpions, live in Breisach

Oh the Irony! "Big City Nights" in my small hometown

Even now, three days later, it still seems unreal that this actually happened. But next year, when Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift play together at “Riesling and Rock” in Sandra's hometown Eigeltingen, I hope all our Maui friends will come join us.

Aloha from Breisach,

Chris, Sandra, Alice & Klaus

Tanking in the Rolling Hills and Rocking with the Rolling Stones

'Tanking' in Nebraska was our favorite activity of this whole trip. If you don’t know what 'tanking' is, unfortunately you’ll have to read through a few paragraphs of unrelated historical trivia first, but you’ll find out later.

My favorite John Steinbeck quote (and also the only one I know) is this:

“The interstate highway system is a wonderful thing. It makes it possible to go from coast to coast without seeing anything or meeting anybody. If the United States interests you, stay off the interstates.” 

The Archway Monument above I80

We tend to follow this advice on our road trips whenever possible. Given a choice, we opt for the backroads. But since 2000, Nebraska is proving Steinback wrong. The Archway Monument is built right over I80, so you can’t really not see it. But it’s not only there to give people something to see while driving coast to coast. It houses a museum that tells the story why the corridor through Nebraska along the Platte River is the most important for America’s westward expansion:

The pioneers on the Oregon Trail came through here on the way to Oregon. 

The 49ers during the Gold Rush came through here on the way to California. 

The Mormons came through here on their way to Utah. 

The first transcontinental railroad came through here. 

The first transcontinental telegraph came through the same route. 

The Lincoln Highway came through here, the first road connecting the east and west coast. 

And I80 itself was the first interstate to go all the way across the country. (Surprisingly, it wasn’t completed until 1986).

And Joy came through here. Surprisingly, not until 2024. 

The museum in the Archway is very entertaining and gives people like us something to do so we don’t drive across the country without seeing anything.

There is another site close by that shows how important this corridor still is to this day: The world’s largest rail yard is in North Platte, Nebraska. The Bailey Yard covers 2,850 acres. An average of 14,000 cargo rail cars come through here every day and get sorted on their way east or west. It’s such an impressive operation that they built an observation tower just for visitors to observe the operation. We spent over three hours there, but half of that was for two inspiring documentaries about the so-called orphan trains and a volunteer canteen during WWII. 

Despite being on the thoroughfare of American history, Nebraska west of Omaha and Lincoln is definitely rural country. The legacy of the Wild West is still very much alive. We toured the home and ranch from Buffalo Bill, who might represent the American West more than anyone else. We were lucky to be here in time for the “Buffalo Bill Rodeo” at North Platte’s “Nebraskaland Days”. 

There was one paniolo at the rodeo

This was not our first rodeo. But it was our first ‘real’, professional rodeo. Nebraska takes their rodeos very seriously. The competitors are revered like soccer players in Germany or surfers in Hawaii. Speaking of Hawaii: Between all the Nebraskans, Texans, Kansans and Wyomingites, there was one competitor from Haiku on Maui. So it was clear who we would be rooting for. We enjoyed our rodeo experience, but I have to admit that I had some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I appreciate the skill and courage of the athletes. On the other hand I feel a litte sorry for the animals and for the poor guy from Haiku. Neither one of them had a real chance.

But now on to the really fun stuff: Tanking! As I said, this was our favorite thing of the whole trip. Tanking is a mix of rafting and tubing and it is as Nebraskan as Runzas and the Cornhuskers. You float and spin down a river in a cow tank. Legend has it that two drunk guys in a bar come up with this alternative use for live stock watering tanks. To pay tribute to the origin of the activity, drinking is highly encouraged. The meandering rivers through the Sandhills of Nebraska are perfect for this. The current is strong enough to keep you going. The round tanks rarely get stuck, they simply spin around when you hit the river bank or a tree. And in the very rare times you do get stuck, the water is never more than waist deep to get out and free yourself. And there are plenty of sandbars to pull up, swim…. and of course drink.

Tanking - the best idea two drunk cowboys ever had

Finding campsites in Nebraska has been pleasantly easy and affordable. However, at Lake McConaughy we were unable to reserve a spot at first because they require a two night stay. But even that turned out to be a good thing. Sometimes we need to be forced to slow down. We enjoyed scootering and biking, went out for a fun lunch and even found time to just sit on the beach and do nothing. 

Doing nothing at Lake McConaughy

Impressive water release below the dam of the lake

We spent our first night after coming to Colorado at one of those ‘free’ Harvest Host locations. This one was a golf course and by the time we played some golf and ate some delicious BBQ at their restaurant, of course it costs more than any of the campgrounds we stayed at. So not really free, but fun.

Golfing at the Sky Ranch

Hawaii and Colorado share some kind of connection. Several of our friends moved from or to Colorado. We had not really planned on it, but we had lucky timing: Our friends Joel and Susannah were celebrating their daughter’s birthday at a beer garden right along our route. Always fun to catch up with friends who moved away from Hawaii. 

Fun meeting with Joel and Susannah in beer garden  

Speaking of friends who moved away: Of course we met our hanai parents Bunt and Ann several times. We always liked Colorado, but with three extra incentives (don’t forget April!), it’s no coincidence that we will be in Colorado three times this year.

Family reunion with Bunt, Ann & April in Colorado

As if we needed more reasons to come here, the Rolling Stones played in Denver just at the right time. I always wanted to see them live. I had heard them live once, but that was from outside the stadium in Vienna on a EuRail trip when we couldn’t afford the ticket to go inside. Now we could afford tickets, at least the kind of seats where you need binoculars to watch the big screens from way across the arena. Mick Jagger talked about the first time they played in Denver…in 1965! Still playing 59 years later is a pretty impressive accomplishment by itself. They sold out Mile High stadium twice and they sounded great. How a bunch of octogenarians can perform like that for two hours defies the accepted facts of aging. What a great show. They don’t even pretend this is a farewell tour anymore, I guess they had too many of those before. 

Not the closet seat to the stage,
 but at least we saw the Rolling Stones

We will see another legendary rock band once we are in Germany. How this came about was one of my most surprising moments in my life. Listening to the radio on the road, Sandra asked me, somewhat out of the blue, to look up whether the Scorpions are touring this year. Another bucket list band, they are only in their 70’s, but not getting any younger either. I looked it up, but could not quite believe my eyes. In the tour dates, somewhere between Budapest and Madrid they play in an obscure place called “Breisach am Rhein”. I have never been so surprised to see the name of my little hometown!

The last day before we flew out was my birthday. And birthday or not, playing games with Sandra, Cody, Trevor & Mandy all day was the perfect way to spend the day. We accomplished the “Triple Crown of Golf”: Disc, stick and mini golf in one day, with a few extra games added for good measure. Even though I lost every kind of golf; Life is Good.

The Triple Crown of Golf crew

Now Joy is stored for the summer and we are off to Europe. That does not mean you are safe from more blog posts, but they will be a little less frequent. We’ll be busy enjoying time with our families…and the Scorpions...

and Pink.

Aloha,

Chris & Sandra