My 30th Birthday in LONDON!!!!

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Goose Gottin'!

Four days after my parents left, we met up with Tim's good friend from college, Seamus, and his wife Tiffany. We intercepted them in Salzburg, brought them home with us for a beerfest, then headed on to Prague. Seamus mastered quite quickly the most important Bavarian phrase, "noch ein Bier, bitte," but wasn't satisfied with the normal hello of "Gruss Gott." Instead, the greeting went through a series of stages until Seamus landed upon "Goose Gottin", which honestly, we all liked much better.

Tim did an entire montage of pictures entitled "Seamus in Prague" but those are for a different day.

Stage Fright

Take a good look at the picture. Notice the water bottles? Hmmm--are these people around Como just REALLY thirsty? (I have heard that the lake is rather dirty.) But seriously what's the skinny? My aunt had heard that this is some kind of throw back to early times when weary travelers wandering by would need something to wet their whistle. (Noble, huh.) But alas, no, our Rick Steve's guidebook said that it's an altogether different type of wetting. The locals here in Como set these water bottles out so that stray cats, which are seriously all over this area, don't pee on their doorstep. Something about seeing their reflection and getting stage fright? Well, now you know.

More on Italy--Lake Como

(from our journey there the end of July)

Next stop: Lake Como. If it's good enough for George Clooney, it's good enough for me.

Como seems to be the hotspot for the Milanese (is that what you call people from Milan??) to get away from the city. No one does anything here except relax, read a good book, and eat absolutely amazing food. Check. Check. Chicketly-check. The highlight for us was definitely cuisine--amazing lamb dishes and the most wonderful handmade pasta that I could swear was stuffed with love.