So, I’m now twenty one. Picked Colm up from the airport on Friday evening, with several bags of presents etc - cards and cash from a few people, all much appreciated. Mitts & scarf from Teresa, a “key” from Colm & Jacqui, a Newbridge picture frame from mum & dad, and a gorgeous heart-shaped chocolate cake - thanks mum!

We went straight in to the concert hall from the airport, and wandered around a bit before the concert. There was “random Mozart” being created, wherein two big foam dice were rolled to choose what to play - Colm was a bit upset that they were using two 6-sided dice to pick a number between (presumably!) two and twelve (it’s just occurred to me that I think they may have had music for when someone rolled a 1 too)… Of course, when I went up to do it, 6 came up, four out of eight times! I got a print-out of my “composition” too, which was nice.

The concert was fabulous, although Loussier didn’t seem to move an inch while he was playing, which was a bit odd. I got a CD afterwards, and had it signed, which was nice

Saturday, we got up reasonably early and headed to Hauptbahnhof for the train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We got some bread for the journey, and passed it pleasantly. In Garmisch, we dropped by Lidl for some drinks, and then got the Zugspitzbahn to Grainau, At Grainau, the train ends - it can’t manage the slope from there up, so we changed to the cog-wheel train as far as Eibsee. At Eibsee, we got out and went for the gondola, up to the top of Zugspitze. I’ve never heard as serious a death threat as when the gondola went over the first pylon, and started swaying - Colm was not happy! The second gondola, from Zugspitzgipfel (2962m) down to Zugspitzplatt (c. 2650m) went a little better - it was shorter, and had no rocky bits.

We met the igloo guides and our fellow guests in the SonnAlpin hotel, which is situated on top of the gondola station. We then decamped to the igloo, about ten minutes walk away, past a little chapel of remembrance of the people who died in an avalanche, when the place was a luxury holiday resort.

It was almost all candle-lit - it was interesting how easy it was to lose track of time, with no natural light (or darkness). There were strip-LED-lights in the floor to light the way tho. Some of the ice-sculptures around the niches in the walls where the candles were had been a bit melted, but overall they were well maintained. It’s pretty cold, so a single candle isn’t gonna melt much!

The passageways down to the regular rooms looked fairly cramped, but for the romantic rooms, there was just a doorway of reasonable(ish) height, and a curtain over it. The loos were absolutely amazing - buckets of chemicals, buried in snow thrones!

The welcome-Gluhwein was very welcome, and the cheese fondue was absolutely divine - I was cold and hungry by the time it came, but it was well worth the wait!

We went for a little Nachtwanderung later - it was amazingly still and peaceful, and the stars were incredibly bright. Back at the igloo, we could see the lights from Innsbruck, but didn’t go for the whirlpool - which was outdoors! It was too dark out, and we didn’t have torches, so I fell and bruised my bum

The decor in the igloo was just incredible - ice carvings everywhere. Sleeping space was comfortable, but with only about 18″ between you and the roof, you wouldn’t want to sit up suddenly when you woke up! Tea was served in bed in the morning (bright and early!), and breakfast was a generous Continental, up at Zugspitzgipfel.

We made our way down the mountain the next morning, and headed back to Munich. The traditional dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe followed, and then a tearful parting at the airport

On Monday, I had my maths exam, which I’d been terrified about for a while. When I got the paper, I thought it was mostly do-able, although I did run out of time a bit. I was reasonably confident by the end that I had passed tho - and got a fantastic email from the girl who corrects our stuff this morning, to say I’d done really well I’m absolutely thrilled!

I am, however, dying of a cold, so it’s a quiet night in tonight - tomorrow I’m off to Swarovski, to spend my birthday money on a beautiful charm bracelet Go me!

Pictures of the igloo weekend are at http://gallery.nerdchic.net/munich/igloo/ - but please bear in mind that these are entirely unsorted, and include some rubbish! Taking photos in the snow was tricky!

I’m not sure how the same post managed to get published twice, but oh well… The blog is due a bit of a makeover by now, so while I’m poking at things, here’s hoping you enjoy the new theme

In 1606, the trial in London of Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators began, for their “Gunpowder Plot, the previous November 5th.

In 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born, in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1832, Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was born in Cheshire, England.

In 1880, Thomas Edison filed a patent for an electric incandescent lamp. Much as I love candles, I’m most grateful for this one!

In 1888, the National Geographic Society was founded in Washington DC.

In 1926, John Logie Baird demonstrated the first television broadcast, in Selfridges, in London.

In 1945, the Red Army liberated the Nazi camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. In 2005, the UN declared January 27th as Holocaust Memorial Day.

In 1951, nuclear testing in Nevada began, with a 1 kiloton bomb, dropped on Frenchman Flats.

In 1967, the crew of Apollo I died, when it went on fire during a training exercise.

In 1973, the Vietnam War officially ended.

In 1985, I was born, on a Sunday afternoon, in Manchester.

And in 2006, Western Union ceased their telegraph service

But there won’t be any crying… My birthday present from my folks arrived at home today, but they’ve decided they’re not going to send it over with Colm tomorrow…

Thank you Mum & Dad!

For those of you not in the know, my birthday present was a copy of the complete second edition of the OED. I’m absolutely thrilled, and can’t wait to get home to see it

It’s definitely the kind of present I won’t forget quickly, and hey - it makes things easier on my folks too… Now they know what to get my next year - reinforced bookshelves!

So, tomorrow I’m going to be twenty one. It’s kinda scary really. I’m more than halfway through college, studying a horrendously esoteric combination of subjects… I’ve no idea what I want to do when I’m done, and only a very vague idea of what I don’t want to do. On paper, I’m experienced, bright & talented… Hell, I almost didn’t get one of the jobs on there because they reckoned I was overqualified - and the guy I was replacing had left to go to NASA!

In practice tho, I feel underqualified, underexperienced, and rather less than competent at almost anything. I can proofread well… Other than that, I don’t think I can identify anything I excel at… Maybe it’s because I surround myself with such talent, and if it is, I guess that’s a good thing. I sort of miss being in Microsoft. Not all of it, granted. But there was a while, when I had the process for the stuff I was managing down pat, I knew exactly what I was doing, I was getting it done on time, and much more efficiently than had previously been possible… I loved that time, I loved the little extra things I was able to take on, the various bits and pieces I was able to manage because I had my real job down to a T. I loved having the time and freedom to play with the tools available, to figure out how they worked, to learn them so well that when the monthly update happened, I could figure out within a day or so what had been changed, and how it was gonna affect me. Of course, then I had to outsource my work, and give the job on to people who weren’t interested in learning, trying, experimenting and so on, and things started falling apart.

It’s rather worrying to be barrelling down on the last milestones on the way to adulthood, and still not have a clue where I’m going… I’ve always had a goal, up to now, but it’s usually been of the form “Finish …” - finish junior school, finish Junior Cert, finish the IB, finish Schols, finish my year at Microsoft, finish college… What happens then!? Scary, scary stuff.

So, since this has gotten to the front page of ToyTown Munich, I figured I might as well post it here.

For the second year in a row, Zugspitze is playing host to a village of igloos, including a bar, and a “hotel”.

There are four romantic igloos in the village, with ice-carved motifs of stars, flowers or hearts, to sleep two, and seven “igloo-hostels”, with space for six people each. On top of that, there’s an igloo bar, serving Gluhwein and Swiss-cheese fondue.

For the really adventurous, there’s also the option of building your own igloo. A small, two-man igloo, will take a day to build - and you don’t wanna waste time, because if it doesn’t get finished, you’re out on your own, as it were

When built, the sleeping space is 4.6m from floor to roof, with a diameter of 4m - the passageways are 3.6mx1m, and the living space is 4.6mx9m. “Snow-thrones” are available, with all the necessary chemicals to sort out the leftovers of that lunchtime beer. The builders assure us that the igloo can’t collapse, because of its construction, so for now, all you have to worry about is getting snowed in.

A night in an igloo will cost between €89 and €164 per person, depending on which type of igloo you want, and what day of the week you want to stay. Included in that is a snack when you get to the igloo, your cheese fondue dinner, and all non-alcoholic drinks, including tea in bed, in the morning. For the romantic types, there’s a bottle of Sekt too - but they don’t say whether they keep it on ice

Also on offer is a short walk - presumably around the village - and an “igloo whirlpool” (no, I’ve no idea how that works either). Breakfast is available, free, at the SonnAlpin hotel, before 11am the next morning.

Guests are provided with expedition sleeping bags, rated to -40°C, mattresses/thermal mats and a sheepskin to keep them warm and cosy! Apparently, the sleeping bags can be zipped to each other, for extra warmth

The village apparently consists of about 3,000 TONNES of snow, and building took most of December to complete, with the igloos opening just in time for Christmas.

There’s more information on the igloo village at Zugspitze, and partner villages in both Switzerland and Austria, available from http://www.iglu-dorf.ch/.

Photos of the village at Zugspitze are also available on the official website or from Stern.

Of all the things to do for a twenty-first birthday, I reckon spending the night in a romantic igloo, on the top of Germany’s highest mountain beats the lot - thank you Colm! I’ll report back next week with details on how it went!

…are NOT in my list of favourite things. No sirree… Not even a little bit. Actually, snowflakes don’t appear on that list in any form.

Got the date for one of my exams yesterday. I’m terrified, on the one hand, because it’s an open book exam, and I’m really not prepared for it - I don’t understand the content, and because it’s open book, learning stuff off won’t help. On the other hand, I’m sort of resigned to my fate - if I fail, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ll cope.

In any case, I printed out the 150-odd pages of script that goes with the course, inserted pretty coloured pages to demark the chapters, and had it nicely bound. I also ordered what looks like a pretty good book on the subject from Amazon, which’ll hopefully be here on Thursday. After that, it’s just study, study, study. I’ve gone through the first (smallest) of the five chapters of the script, and know and understand it all. If I can even understand half of the other chapters, who knows - I might just get by

Then I had my logic tutor course. Still feeling sick to my stomach with nerves over the exam, that was an absolute godsend. Started off correcting a review the prof had written - just a few issues with the English, and it’s work I like. Then we went through the code I’d written. I just love that course - it’s fun, it’s calming, the people are great.

Today was long & hard as usual, but I found a Hauptseminar that looks pretty do-able for next semester - now just to see if they’ll let me take it

Tomorrow is more study, study, study, and then German. For those of you I forgot to mail earlier, this day week (Jan 21st) is birthday drinkies (as I’ll be out on the day itself, and away the Saturday too). I figured the 21st was as good a day as any for my 21st celebrations

Apache stuff has been going well - have finished on the mod_ssl documentation for now, and cleaned up a lot of the website. Probably not going to do much more before February, but that’s how it goes. I reckon I’ve been productive anyway

As previously mentioned, I was over at Bari’s last night. Turns out, her parents are planning a trip to Europe during the semester break, and their itinerary seems a bit mad to me. It’s entirely possible that this is because I don’t know them, don’t know what they like doing or seeing, and am simply clueless. But it could also be that they simply don’t know what there is to see here. So, I’ve taken it on myself to come up with a list of the “must-see”s in Europe, along with how long I think should be devoted to each. I love doing this sort of thing! Europe is a fantastic place, and there’s loads to see and do! While it’s for Bari that I’m actually writing this down, planning and dreaming about travel is something I love doing anyway

I’m more or less ignoring transport options for the purposes of this itinerary - if I were doing it, I’d probably interrail again. I like trains Unfortunately, interrail only works for Europeans, so it’s no good to Bari’s folks. On top of that, they can drive, which I can’t, and which is frankly the method I’d suggest - some of these things probably need a car to get to. That said, once you get into the cities - just go for it, get a public-transport ticket, and use it to death. Public transport in most European cities is fantastic, and cars are just not worth it.

So, starting in Munich - go for a walk in the English Gardens. Go to Dachau too - horrific as they are, I’d recommend everyone visit a concentration camp once in their lives. (Ideally, a no-longer used one please.) World War II is a big part of modern history, and I certainly feel I couldn’t properly understand it - and appreciate its significance - without seeing what was going on. I’ve been to two - Sachsenhausen and the Auschwitz/Birkenau complex.

Next, I’d head up to Berlin. Allow at least two days here. Go to the Checkpoint Charlie museum - allow a couple of hours for that. See the Charlottenburg Palace too - this is one of the few things I’ll recommend that I haven’t actually been to before, but there’s a good reason for this.

Michelin publish, amongst other things, tourist guides to various countries. They rate the attractions with stars - * to ***. As a child, I spent many, many long hours, touring old castles and churches in the south of France, “collecting” Michelin stars (no, there’s nothing to collect). While I understand that these were almost certainly sites of great cultural or historic interest - I was a kid! I just wasn’t interested. Thus, as an adult, I have developed a minor allergy to castles and palaces.

Go on a bus tour of Berlin - there’s some fabulous buildings that really aren’t worth a walk just to see, but you’ll cover plenty of them on a tour, and the guide will be able to tell you much more about them than I can. See the Brandenburg Gate too. Other things to do, I can’t really remember - I spent a lot of my trip to Berlin dyeing my hair odd colours. Guess it went to the brain.

Next stop on our whistle is Amsterdam. I know some people worry about the scumbag density, but I really didn’t find it that bad. I can recommend the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh museum (not necessarily in that order). Also highly recommended is the Anne Frank house. Just do it. Other things to do are a canal trip - forget Venice, this is the real city of pretty canals. On a hotel tip - and I haven’t stayed here, but know people who have, and fully intend to at some point - try Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy. Allow at least one full day for Amsterdam, probably two. If there’s other things you want to see in the Netherlands, they’re pretty easy to get to from Amsterdam, so it might be worth just basing yourself there for a few days, rather than constantly moving around.

And then we reach gay Paris… (Ugh, that’s not what I meant! Paris has to be said the French way - and it’s ‘gay’ in the old meaning.) The Louvre is the big attraction here - you could easily spend a day in her, and still not see everything. But go, see the highlights anyway. Another classic is the Centre George Pompidou - the building built “inside-out”, and a modern art paradise. Even if you’re not into modern art, go have a portrait done by one of the street artists outside.

If you must do the Eiffel Tower - don’t overhype it. It’s a big steel-girder construction, and it’s really not as romantic in person as in the movies. Sometimes, things are better off left in your head. If you can do a tour on the Seine, do - it’s a good way to see the highlights of the city at its best. L’Arc de Triomphe is in the middle of a very busy road, so please don’t get killed - but please do visit, and don’t walk away without having had a stroll down the Champs Elysee

The cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris is another don’t-miss - but the ultimate of ultimates is slightly outside Paris. Whatever you see or don’t see on the entire trip, make sure you visit the Palace at Versaille. I can’t emphasise this enough - and I don’t generally like palaces. It’s the most amazingly lavish, sumptuous, romantic, wonderful place. Just go.

Onward to the south of France - if you’re not entirely fed up of driving by now, you could pop in to Barcelona. (At this point, you could also start taking flights - the distances get a bit bigger here, although they’re still eminently drivable for North Americans.) The Museu Picasso is worth a look if you’re a fan, and the famous Gaudi masterpice - La Sagrada Familia” - is definitely to be seen, although they’re still not quite finished!

Although a very pretty city in its own right, Nice is on my tour for another reason - it’s from Nice airport that you can get a helicopter to the playground of the rich and famous, the Principality of Monaco and Monte-Carlo. There’s not a huge amount to do here, unless casinos are your thing, and frankly, it’s an expensive place. But I know if I had the money to do a grand tour of Europe, all at once, I’d go, just for a few hours, and do a Holly Golightly on it

The next leg (ok, I’m sorry, but it had to be done) is Italy. Rome is beautiful, and has lots to offer, although comes complete with swarms of pigeons and tourists. Florence is the city of art and culture. Milan is fashion and more modern culture, while Naples is pure beautiful, and Pompeii is the forgotten city. Sicily is home of the Mafia, and Venice is sinking. Lots to see - I’d pick Rome, Florence or Pompeii, for religion, art or history, and just do it to death over a couple of days.

Back in central Europe, we’ve missed a few spots - I understand that I’ve probably gone way past the three weeks this was meant to take, but that’s how it goes… Vienna & Prague for music, culture and Charles’ Bridge, Budapest for the amazing baths, and Krakow cos it’s just Europe’s little gem, would all be on my list.

Not on my list, but worth considering, are Ireland and the UK. Spring break isn’t the best time to see the countryside, but Dublin and London are still worth visiting - there’s so much to do and see that it probably won’t all be possible though. The Nordic/Scandanavian countries, while pretty, never really captured my heart the way the rest of Europe does, so they’re not in this tour. If any of them were to make it, it’d be Copenhagen, and possibly the Norwegian fjords - although they’re more of a summer thing, I think.

And that’s my Grand Tour of Europe pretty much complete I love this place, and it’s wonderful to visit, even just virtually!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of Mozart. Of his music, but also of him as a person. I’m sure I liked his music nearly from the start - I was lucky enough to enjoy plenty of musical education & appreciation during my ‘formative years’, but my earliest memory of my obssession with Wolfie is from my Mount Anville days. Mum and dad went skiing in Salzburg, and amongst the many things they brought back was a cuckoo clock, which cuckoos the number of an hour hourly, and once in-between hours. (I don’t think I ever remember it cuckooing *on* the hours & half hours, because it needed the weights reset fairly regularly, and that just never happened, despite mum’s best efforts.)

But more importantly for the little bookworm I was, they brought back a book about the life of Mozart, with the most wonderful illustrations, and all kinds of esoteric (to a seven year old) facts. And this is where my memory comes in - playing down by a shed, or prefab, or something, in Mount Anville. But I didn’t want to play “Nest” or British Bulldog, or any of those other games - I wanted to play Mozart. It’s little wonder really that when mum turned up at school one lunchtime, I asked her if she’d stay and play with me - no one else would!

Much more recently, I was introduced to the music of Jacques Loussier. He’s a French jazz pianist, who’s most famous for his jazz interpretations of/variations on Bach classics. He’s absolutely amazing - granted, he’s no Bela Fleck, but his music just warms my heart, makes me feel good. I love it.

And the final link in this chain is that it’s a mere two weeks until my 21st birthday!

So on the U-Bahn on the way home from a girlie movie night with Bari & Katie, I was considering what I wanted. Various people have asked for suggestions, and as I’d much rather get a gift I liked than one I didn’t like, I’ve been trying to figure out what I really want. One of the things I have in my head is that I’d like to get something a bit Mozart’y. My 21st birthday is his 250th, so I wanted to mark that in some little way, and had already intended on going to *some* kind of Mozart event on the day, even if it was just small and on my own. Colm’s flying in that evening, and I wanted to still be able to pick him up from the airport - so anything in the evening was a bit out…

Then it came to me. I’d love a CD of Jacques Loussier! I had a vague feeling I saw one when looking at music with Dad over the hols, and figured it was something Colm wouldn’t mind getting me.

Then, in Münchner Freiheit, I changed from the U6 to the U3 - and saw a poster of a whole programme of events for Mozart’s 250th birthday (it’s a really big thing here). I had a bit of time to wait, so started reading, looking for stuff in the early afternoon… There was nothing much really - until I saw the concert at 9pm… Jacques Loussier & his trio, playing Mozart!

Cogs whirled all the way home, and one brief conference with Colm later, my birthday present was decided - he’s bringing me! Yipee! It’s kinda appropriate too, because I brought him to see Bela Fleck, as his birthday present (not on the day, sadly, but still!). Oh joy! I’m happy