Gay TV

I've recently found a new channel on our T.V. which occasionally has shows in English. It is an all Gay TV channel called Timm. It caters to gay men rather than gay women. It is now my favorite channel. Now I can add Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and The Next Top Male Model to my TV repetoir. Considering that my only other options are CNN and the mind numbing programming on MTV, this new Gay Channel has really improved my TV viewing options. If you have watched MTV lately, I'm sure you can sympathize. I think I actually loose brain cells while watching shows like Parental Control, Next or Flavor Flav's version of The Bachelor, but it is like a car accident. It is so bad that you continue to watch more out of disbelief that people like this exist and that some producer thought it was a good idea to broadcast it.

Coffee Smuggling?

Last Saturday, Jim and I decided to go for a hike in the Eifel National Forest. After searching the Eifel website, Jim picked out a trail which was actually a smuggling route. After the Second World War the town of Schmidt was completely destroyed. In order to rebuild their town the Germans began smuggling coffee in from Belgium. Seeing the prosperity of the smugglers, the Church decided it wanted to get a part of the action. They began preaching that the church should be entitled to 10% of the smuggling profits and is now approapriately named St. Mokka.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the church to start the hike, we saw three car loads of senior citizens getting ready to start their hike. They were all equipped with their walking sticks and hiking boats even through the terrain on these hikes isn't particularly uneven or technical. I am always amazed to see how active older people are here. They are always out hiking and biking.


The Schmugglerweg trail was a really nice 17k loop through forest, meadows and farmland. It was the perfect day for a hike as it was probably the nicest day of the year so far. When the weather is nice in Germany, it is a really beautiful place.

May Day German-style

May 1st in Germany is a public holiday. It is Germany's Labor day to celebrate workers' rights so there are some protests throughout the country. Bonn, however, was really quiet.

The first weekend in May is also a celebration of spring and a reason to drink beer, have barbecues, and fireworks. This past weekend felt a lot like Memorial Day weekend with a bit of 4th of July mixed in.
In the Rheinland, young men profess their love by putting up a maypole next to their loved one's house. They strap these ribbon ladden birch trees to drainage gutters or lampposts or anything they can find in front of the house. Some of these trees are so tall that this can't be an easy task. Of course, the trees also have a heart with the girl's name on it so the guy gets credit for it and it isn't confusing when you are dealing with an apartment complex rather than a house. Where they get these tall birth trees, I have no idea. I didn't see anyone selling them, but we saw tons of boys lugging them around on the evening of April 30th. The first weekend in May is also when Bonn sets off a huge firework display. Throughout the summer, there are firework displays along the Rhein which they call "Rhein in Flammen" (Rhein in flames). Saturday was Bonn's Rhein in Flammen. Along with the fireworks was a huge fair in the Rhinaue Park south of Bonn. I have never seen so many people in Bonn. Apparently about 270,000 people come to the festival and watch the fireworks. I had envisioned setting up a blanket and watching the fireworks in the park. However, after a bunch confusion as to where to watch the fireworks, we ended up on the bridge with traffic between us and the fireworks. Although it was not an idyllic spot, it still gave us a pretty good view of the fireworks.