An apology and a brag

I want to start off today by apologizing for the lack of posts in the past week, something which is likely to continue for another week to ten days.  I am having some hardware issues and cannot get any of my photos to upload, to blogger, or Facebook, etc.  odd.  I am working on it though, and have posts written and saved, ready to post just as soon as photos can be added.  Please be patient and check back in a week or so.


In the meantime, I am going to brag on my niece just a little bit.  She is one of the two thousand, yes two thousand, Lakewood High School kids in a lip dub of Katy Perry's Roar.  The kids, with minimal help, but certainly cooperation, from staff put this together and had it online already last week, not bad at all.  I cannot imagine the effort to choreograph and create this and get it all all in one take.  I think it is pretty clear the kids had fun making it, and that this is an active group of kids who participate in a huge variety of school activites.  Really not the out of control hooligans that the media often portrays.  Good kids, having fun.  And, it is part of a contest to win Katy coming out to the school for a concert.  The kids are asking that of they win, she plays Mile High stadium nd they be allowed to sell tickets to raise funds for Colorado flood victims.  How smart is that?

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/colo-high-schools-katy-perry-roar-lip-dub-150424471--abc-news-music.html

Anyway, enjoy the article and the video, and if you are so inclined, tweet Katy and encourage her select them as her winner.  But either way, enjoy the video and thanks for letting me brag about my niece and her friends and classmates.

Hadley

Election Day

Today was election day here in Germany (yes, polls are one of the few things that ARE open on Sundays here!).  Angela Merkel has already been declared the winner for those who are curious.

No need to go running for the hills, I am not going to expound on my political views and who I think should be running Germany.  For one thing, I do not pretend to have nearly enough understanding of the issues to truly form a realistic opinion.

I just want to comment on the campaign posters.  I doubt they would have jumped out at me, had we not just returned from a month in the US.  But we did, so the difference popped right out.  In the US, we would have very slick campaign posters.  No hair out of place, the expression perfect (either very strong, or very friendly, or very intelligent), backgrounds carefully chosen, etc.  The American public seems much more about electing an "image" than I gather the Germans are.

Here are the campaign posters Marika and I passed on a recent walk.  None of them are BAD photos at all, but they just don't seem as slick as what I would expect in the US:

(this one is the "slickest" we have seen around town.  And we do notice the big smile, something we were NOT seeing in political ads 4 years ago--the Germans are loosening up a bit).  

Again, there is nothing terribly wrong with this, but a national election candidate in the USA is not likely to have their main poster image showing hair blowing in the wind and a busy background that doesn't show something like flags or another major national symbol.  

And then we have the winner's two main ads.  This one, which we see mostly in smaller form when out on walks.  It looks like an outtake more than a final product.  A bunch of random people in the background and Merkel looks like she was caught in the middle of  talking:

Ffianly, the poster that we constantly see from the car or tram, but never passed when walking with the camera--so I have pulled this photo from CNN.com.  It almost looks as if Merkel was told to smile, but is so unused to doing so that the best she could manage was a smirk.

In all honesty, I find it a bit refreshing to have the focus be more on what the candidates say and what their track records are, than on how glamours or patriotic their photos come out.  None the less, it is different enough that it makes me giggle as I pass sign after sign.  

--Hadley

IAA, The Frankfurt Motor Show 2013

Long before we moved to Germany, Dave would travel here for work.  On one of his longer trips, he visited the IAA (Internationale Automobil Ausstellung) over the weekend.  The IAA is the world's largest auto show.  I remembered him talking about it after that trip, so that when Rio pointed out an advertisement for this year's IAA at the Mannheim train station and said wistfully that he' love to go to that, I replied that it is pretty close by and Daddy would likely take him if he really wanted to go.

Silly me!  I should have checked the dates.  David was out of town all last week.  The show is notorious for being PACKED on weekends--and weekend prices are pretty hefty.  Which is how I found myself taking Rio to a car show yesterday.

After looking at our schedules, an ticket prices, we decided to go on Friday afternoon--leaving directly from school.  Afternoon tickets can be bought any time after 3:00 pm and cost significantly less than day tickets.  And 3-4 hours sounded like enough time to see the things Rio was mot interested in.

Yesterday I picked Rio up after his last class, which ended at 3:00, and we continued straight on to Frankfurt.  45 minutes later I was following signs for parking in the Rebstock Parking garage for the Frankfurt Messe, where IAA is held.  There is supposed to be an outdoor parking area, that costs 10 euro, or a garage for 12 euro.  I have no problems parking outside, and like to save money, but for 2 euro, I was not going to stress about finding any particular place.

 I followed the signs to the first parking area, which was the garage, and bopped right on in.  I don't really know, but I would swear that garage was bigger than the one at the airport!  It was GIGANTIC.  After spiraling up several levels, I chose a row to try finding a space in, and lucked out that there was an available space right at the end, with a large, no parking area right next to it.  It made getting in (and later out) VERY easy.

Leaving the car,  I was busy trying to remember what level and section we were on, when Rio pointed out that there were little maps of the garage, with our current location marked, by the stairwell!  Well done Frankfurt, well done!

So, armed with our map, we started following the signs to the shuttle buses.  We walked, and walked, and walked some more though one big, open parking section after another.  Eventually we got to the central section and took an escalator down to the shuttle bus level.  This is where we picked up our first "swag" of the afternoon--Opel was very wisely handing out bottles of water to everyone heading up or down.  Score one for Opel!

We were happy to notice that there was a steady stream of people walking INTO the garage and precious few of us leaving it.  The bus, which pulled up almost instantly, was similarly packed to the gills when it arrived, but half got off at our stop, and only 4 of us got on.  We stopped at 3 other parking areas before arriving at the main entrance to the show. It was while on this bus ride that I realized I had left my camera in the car.  Doh!   By the time we arrived, there were only 6 of us on the bus.

Buying tickets went quickly and easily.  The tickets were not much more than the parking fee--totally 12.50 for one adult and one "child" (under 18) at the afternoon rate.

Rio had downloaded the IAA ap onto his phone and determined we should start with building 6, near the back, and work our way forwards into 5, and 3 and then past the test track.  This would let him check out almost all of the luxury car brands (we had planned to pop into the Audi building as well, but there was a HUGE line for that, so he ended up missing the Audis).

Anyway, it was a god kilometer or more to work our way back to building 6.  This photo of the outdoor walking area, taken from the Wikipedia page, is from the 2007 auto show--but the crowd level in the photo is very close to what we had as we headed in (it was crowded but not uncomfortable--though we both were glad to not have been there earlier, given how many people were streaming out and it was still so busy).

The big draw in Building 6, for Rio, were the Maserati and Ferrari displays.

(photo from autogespot.com)

(photo from autolog.nl)

Rio was really excited about this Ferrari:

(photo from egarage.com)

(photo from autogespot.com)

There was an Alfa Romeo that I thought was one of the prettiest cars at the show.  The 4-C:

(photo from newgadgets.de)

Of course, there were plenty of lower end cars as well.  The very high end cars were not available for the general public to sit in, but there were lots of slightly less expensive ones to try out.  And just looking at all the pretty ones up close was fun.  I was surprised to be totally enjoying myself actually looking at the cars, and it was very fun to see Rio happily geeking out over the various cars.  

After a brief walk outside, we popped into hall 5.  Our main goal was the Tesla exhibit at the far end of the hall--but we might as well walk through and see the Volvos and Infinitis, and better yet the Aston Martins and Jaguars, as well as the Land Rovers and a few companies who "trick out" the high en cars into even more high end specialty things, like this display by Mansory:

(photo by egarage.com)

We eventually made it down to the Tesla display.  They are pretty cars--and I had really hoped to sit in one and see if I thought David would have enough leg room in their vehicles.  The good news was that Tesla did have their vehicles out for all to try.  The bad news is that they only had two cars on display and there was quite a line.  So, we skipped trying them out.

Back outside, we walked around for a bit and looked at some of the many foods an drinks available, enjoyed the nice fountain and some fresh air, and then stumbled across the pop up camper from Mercedes on display.  It is the size of a minivan, but a reasonably usable camper space inside.  It was pretty cool and fun to sit in and check out all of the features.

Up next, was the VW building.  As you can probably imagine, this is the BIG building, being that we were in Germany.  Rio surprised me by heading right to the Skoda display.  Skoda is pretty much the opposite of the luxury vehicles he had been looking at.  But, as he explained, it is the "teenager car" so much more likely to be somethign he might drive in the next 5-10 years than the others.  

Of all the areas that we went by, Skoda had by far the most workers there--all dressed in various lime green and white outfits that were super easy to spot.  No one was pushy, but they were very friendly and willing to answer questions, etc.  Rio and I sat in just about all their cars, checking out the features, the leg room, etc.  We also had free lime green slushies and car shaped gummies.  I think Skoda knows their target audience well!

Nearby, we moved into my dream car--I got to sit in a Porche 911.  Rio's phone battery gave out taking that photo, so alas I have no proof.  I can only say that I BELONG in that car!

After I drooled over the Porches for a bit, we moved onto the Bentleys, Lamborghinis and the Bugatti.  

(photo from egarage.com)

(photo from autogespot.us)

(photo from egarage.com)

We wandered past the VWs, trying out the R series along the way, and back out into the open air.  We looked over at the Audi building, but it had a huge line just to get in, and while we were both enjoying ourselves, we were reaching a saturation point and about done with being in rooms filled with cars.  We sat and had a crepe to hold us over until dinner and then started slowly working our way out, taking a different route and stopping at the test track area along the way.  

I really wish I could figure out what words to google to get photos of this track!  People could sign up (and probably pay) to drive a car around this track.  I was amazed at what they were letting ordinary people drive on (some with kids in the car!)--it really seems like the kind of thing that would never get past the liability lawyers in the US.  The cars were being taken up and down VERY steep, and rather narrow grades--one dropped a tire off of the side of the track, leaving it spinning in dairymaid about 15 feet up, as they tried to come down), rounded extremely banked curves, drove down steps, etc.  It was fascinating to watch.  

Finally, we stopped by the Bosch Emergency Breaking System display.  People were lined up for the chance to drive the car--you drive it straight at an obstacle, without breaking, and the car stops automatically.  Pretty cool stuff.  It feels more and mire like a sci-fi cartoon every time I drive a newer car.

Overall, Rio and I had a fabulous time.  It was well worth the cost of entry and parking and three hours proved to be just about the perfect amount of time to see plenty and not feel rushed but not become too overwhelmed either.  

If you love cars, or even just sort of like them, and happen to be near Frankfurt any time the show is happening (always in September and always on odd years) I recommend stopping by.  I know Rio and I plan to go back in 2015.

--Hadley

Long before Rainforest Cafe, there was a Casa Bonita.

Sitting in an otherwise plain and boring strip mall on Colfax Ave:

rises a very "out of place" pink tower topped with a gold dome:

Behind that fountain, one enters an almost surreal place that is some odd combination of Taco Bell, Tom Sawyer's Island and Acapulco: the one and only, Casa Bonita.

Casa Bonita, whose doors opened in 1974, is part "Mexican" eatery and part funland--and all unique to one little corner of the world (though, I hear it was briefly a chain this is the first, and not last, location).  Someone, somewhere along the way, saw an empty building that once house a large department store and thought "hey, I could fill that full of caves and waterfalls, serve enchiladas and put on shows; it's be like a trip to Mexico without that pesky flight."  And, while it is really nothing like Mexico, I have to say that my one trip there as a child (I had NO idea what I was in for going to that birthday party lol) and the several I have taken as an adult with my own kids, have all been a lot of fun.  This place is just as quirky and off the beaten path in its own way as my beloved Tripsdrill amusement park.  Lacking any better way to describe it, I will just take you through a pictorial tour and encourage you to plan a visit if you are ever in the area.  Please note: while it IS dark in Casa Bonita--it was not NEARLY as dark as the photos make it appear.  I am not sure what was wrong with my camera that everything came out so dreary; perhaps it was mistakenly put on the wrong setting or something.  

The first thing you need to know about Casa Bonita is that your "entrance fee" is your meal.  This means that you cannot enter if you do not purchase the food (this applies to anyone over age 2).  Plan on spending about $13-15 to eat, $15-17 with a drink.  

For our visit, Dave went online ( http://www.casabonitadenver.com/ ) that morning and found a coupon for $3 off of your choice of either the all you can eat beef or chicken deluxe dinner.  This made that dinner the least expensive option, even if we did not want seconds--so nearly all of us opted for it (Rio and Ellie opted for kids' meals, and were graciously allowed to do so in spite of being technically too old).  

You start off in a long queue area, that has an ordering station and then a bit later on a place to pick up both your food and your non alcoholic drinks (alcoholic drinsk will be delivered to you at your table).  We intentionally ate at an off hour to avoid the lines and chaos that normal meal times see at Casa Bonita--so here is a photo of the almost empty queue: be aware that in peak times the wait here can easily exceed thirty minutes!

(sorry it is so dark)

Here is where you pick up the meal that you ordered about two turns back:

And after you pick up your food, you can feel like you are back in elementary school paying the lunch lady for your meal:

After paying, you will be met at the start of the ramp up by a staff member, who will escort you to a table (no worries: if you have little ones who cannot carry their own trays, or need some assistance yourself, the staff is happy to provide that for you).  

Being there at an off hour meant we were seated in the coveted "waterfall room" without even asking for it.

Now, I have to say that Casa Bonita has a reputation for having terrible food.  People often say they suffer through it, and often don't even eat, and just figure it is worth the price just to get in (and to eat the sopapillas--which everyone DOES agree are fantastic)--and it IS worth the price for that.  However, while it is far from the real thing and not even what I would expect out of a good Tex-Mex restaurant, I also think it is pretty decent stuff for what it is and far better than most US theme park food, or a Taco Bell, etc.  I made this assertion to our group several times on the day of our visit, always to be told I was crazy.  I was vindicated when several people commented, as we ate, that it actually WAS pretty good.  

One of the most fun aspects of eating, are the little flags on each table.  

Whenever you want something new brought to the table: more enchiladas, more chips and salsa (THOSE were terrible,  I conceded that), refills on your drinks (oh lovely refills--how I covet thee.  THIS is probably the thing I miss most when not in the USA), and, most importantly, more sopapillas, you just run your little flag up to the top of its pole, and a waiter will drop by very quickly to see what you need and bring it to you.  

By the way, the sopapillas, as well as the chips and salsa, are included at no extra charge and you are allowed to eat as many of them as your little heart and large stomach desire.  Heck, you can eat $12 worth of sopapillas pretty easily, IMO.

If you do not know what a sopapilla is: they are little "pillows" of fried dough that are hallow inside.  You fill the hollow space with honey (though the name implies they were meant to be eaten with soup originally) and chow down.  MMMMMMMMMMM.  

Now, on to exploring!  If you visit with very young kids, this place is EASY to get lost in--so have an adult stay with them.  With older kids, just make sure the kids know their table number, so they can ask for directions if they get lost, have them stick with a buddy and let them wander.  Since the youngest in our party was 13, we had no worries at all and everyone was in more of a looky-lu mode than play mode.

There are several themed rooms to sit in.  The Water Fall Room is meant to evoke a small Mexican Village feel with water falls that are meant to remind you of the cliff divers from Acapulco.  

There are several shows that take in and around the waterfall throughout the day (some sort of show happens every thirty or so minutes all day long, more often in peak times).  The water fall shows include a diving show, a wild west show and a gorilla show (both of the latter include "falls" into the water).  

Other places to sit, include the mine shafts, caves and the magic show room (note: it is expected and encouraged to explore all the areas--this is one place where the kids CAN and SHOULD wander around amongst all the tables!  Normal rules do not apply).

There are also non seating areas to explore--the most popular being Black Bart's Cave.  There are also mine trains to find, pirate's coves, 2 arcades, a wishing well, etc.

(this leads into a narrow, winding, cave with many "startle" features and a few interesting twists and turns.  Sadly, a few of the most fun features--the spinning floor and swinging bridge, have been lost to a litigious society an are now fixed without movement).  

While you are doing all of this exploring, you can stop at almost any time to see a show.  In addition to the aforementioned shows around the waterfall, there are puppet shows, magic shows and pinata breakings virtually every hour.  Here's a shot of the kids swinging a club at that pinata (after it breaks--the kid who broke it gets to keep their choice of the head or the body and then other kids vie for the chance to keep the other half--yes, Casa Bonita cons your kids into excitedly taking home their trash! lol and everyone watching gets 2 tootsie rolls:

If all the exploring and commotion are not enough for you, Casa Bonita is also more than happy to separate you from a bit more of your money.  You can visit two arcades, have a caricature of yourself made, dress in old time clothes and have a photo taken, pose in the jail (this used to be free) and shop in the market.

(live music in front of the shop)

As you can see--it is a really unique and kitschy kind of place.  A perfect way to spend a couple of hours (or 4 or 5 if you have never been and have younger kids and can stand it for that long--have a few of the margaritas!).  It's an especially good option when the weather doesn't cooperate--and it is just so different that it is a great place to go if you are visiting the area (we all kept thinking of people, many Germans, who we'd love to take there).

As I write this, Boulder and many of the surrounding communities are experiencing extreme flooding.  While I have gone ahead and focused on the light and fun things in life--please know that my thoughts are with everyone who is in danger yet, those who have lost belongings and most especially with the families who have lost loved ones (three thus far, and they expect to possibly find more later on).

--Hadley

Red Rocks

Our last full day in the USA was Labor Day Monday.

We had packed everything up the night before, and I still had some room (amazing!) so I ran out to pick up a couple of extra goodies from Target that morning.  It felt weird to be able to shop on a national holiday.  I looked online expecting at least limited hours--but, nope, it was bussiness as usual.  Even the small, local, used book store was open regular hours (which meant Marika could fill in extra space with more books, much to her excitement).

After that last flurry of commercialism, we headed out to the first of two very unique local venues on the agenda for the day: Red Rocks.

Red Rocks is a natural ampitheater formed by red rocks (weren't they creative when it was named?).  It became famous for its acoustic properties as far back as the early 1900s, when famed opera singers would trek there by donkey just to try it out. A temproary platform stage was eventually erected and a number of concerts (some orchstral and some opera singers, etc) were held over the years.   In 1941, as part of a Civillian Cinservation Core project, it was turned into a true to form concert venue, benches and a stage were erected, etc.

We had a big group and had to take two cars from my sister in law's house.  We met up at the parking area in front of the Red Rocks Trading Post.

These days, there is a lovely 1.4 mile hiking trail around the outskirts of the main amptheatre.  I'd never been on it (nor did I know it was there before my sister in law suggested we hike it), but we sure enjoyed it.  It is an easy hike with plenty of great scenery.  (note, if you ever go for the hike, no matter which direction you go along the trail, it will be downhill from the parking area and then uphill again for the last half of the hike--there is just no way to get the hardest part out of the way first, sorry).

Once back up at the parking area, there is ramp to walk up to to get into the main venue, or you can drive to the upper lot (normally for actual concerts you walk up the ramp).  I popped into the shop before heading up--in the hopes of buying a "shield" for Rio's walking stick that he takes hiking in Europe.  Sheilds are small, thin, metal plaques representing an area, that you can nail onto your walking stick as a keepsake.  I asked in the store--and prefaced by saying I knew it was a crazy question.  The response was that it was that they do not carry such a thing but get asked about them at elast once a day--probably by all the foriegn tourists.  Hmmmm, maybe they need to start carrying this much in demand item?

I highly recomend both the hike, and visiting the main concert area if you are in the neighborhood.  Both can be done at a very realed pace in only a couple of hours, and they are both very interesting in their own ways.  They are also free--always a nice perk.

We headed into the concert area, which looks like this:

There are large rock formations along the side as well, especially on stage right:

(please forgive our silly, super hero pose; I'm not sure what we were thinking!)

Ahh, Red Rocks.  I saw my first conert here, John Denver, performing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  

Even if you have never been to Denver, or think you have never heard of Red Rocks, you might be looking at these photos and thinking it looks awfully familiar.  You may have seen it featured in any one of several of John Denver's specials that he filmed here, or (so I am told) as the start/finish line in The Amazing Race--but if you are my age, what you probably recognize it from is one of the greatest concert movies ever made:

My sisters in law actaully had tickets for that night.  There were such heavy rains that U2 offered ticket holders the option to see them the next night at McNichols (indoor) arena, or that night at Red Rocks.  The girls made the wrong choice, and missed one of the most celebrated shows in music history.  Wow.

At the back of the ampitheater, there is a visitor's center.  There is some memorbilia from various artists who have performed there, some interesting bits of information about many of them, and a fun wall which lists every conert held since the 1941 opening.  It was great fun looking at that with three generations.  My in laws were finding The Kingston Trio show they saw while still dating, Dave and I were finding  things we saw growing up, including  John Denver, David Byrn, The B-52s, etc and my nieces were finding The Avett Brothers conerts from the last couple of years.

We had had a late breakfast, and were planning an early dinner/late lunch at another totally unique Denver area location: Casa Bonita.  Our stomaches were rumbling, and it was time to head towards the home of unlimited sopapillas.  So, I will end with one more photos of the kids--just becuase I think it is a great one of the two of them--and be back with a seperate post about Casa Bonita sometime soon.

--Hadley