I Missed My Friends Mulder and Scully

So, I've previously discussed my great teenage love of Pete Sampras. But those who know me know the real truth: that the Great Pete comes in a distant second to my love of all things Mulder and Scully.

It's sad to say, but "The X-Files" was a major component of my life throughout high school and college. I've seen every episode numerous times, and can still amaze Brian with my thoroughly useless knowledge of the content of the episodes. He and I can be watching something totally unrelated and he'll say an actor looks familiar, and I can say, "Oh he guest starred on the X-Files episode...." and name the episode, what season it was in, what the character's name was, and everything else. It is really kind of pathetic. When you are a fan of a show to that depth, you feel as though you know the characters as real people. (Sometimes I can understand how someone who's totally unhinged can think they know an actor or something.) So, last night, when Brian took me to see the movie, "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," I felt like I was visiting old friends whom I haven't seen in a while. I was curious what's up with them.

I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I will say a few things. Scully is still gorgeous in that super-smart chick way (yeah smart chicks!), Mulder is still hot (to me anyway, even though Duchovny is nearing 50), Skinner makes a brief appearance (I was soooo happy), and even their baby William is briefly mentioned (but not discussed further, bummer). Mulder and Scully have apparently been living together as a couple since they went on the run in the show's finale, and it shows. And I mean that in a good way. Some reviews have stated that they thought the chemistry was lacking between our two heroes, but I disagree. The chemistry is just different. Because Mulder and Scully have been in a long term relationship at this point, the repressed sexual chemistry is gone. They are now two people who admittedly love each other like crazy, and are disagreeing on what direction their lives are going to take. As I said to Brian last night, he and I surely have different chemistry than we did when we started dating. But that doesn't mean it's not there.

The movie itself was okay/pretty good. I will agree with some people who thought it wasn't as suspenseful as it could have been. Along the way, the viewers were given clues as to what was happening that, on the show itself, we would have never been given, thus lessening the suspense level. It was still a very interesting story focusing on faith, psychic abilities, and some other super duper creepy stuff I won't reveal. All in all, I was very happy to see the movie. No matter what, I will always love Mulder and Scully.

Vacation Part Two: Salzburg, Hitler's House, and Munich

Well, we are home from our whirlwind adventures. And boy, are we tired! We got home last night, and could barely make it until 10 pm and crashed. And then we proceeded to wake up at about 6 this morning, due to the time change (that was noon for us). We are both exhausted today. Anyway, we had a great time, and its fun seeing all this neat stuff, but its also stressful being away from home in a foreign land where you don't speak the language, or eat that type of food all the time, and can't buy tampons if you need them at 10 at night because everything is closed (I speak from experience--they don't believe in being open past 8). Brian was in heaven with fried meat, spatzl and beer 12 times a day, but quite frankly, I feel kind of gross and am looking forward to regularly having fruits and vegetables in my diet again. Germany and Austria are a cardiologists nightmare. +2 pounds in 10 days is all I have to say (and I've been having trouble fitting into my pants as it is).

Picture explanation:

Picture one is of the fortress in Salzburg, Austria, looking up from the bottom of the city. Salzburg is an absolutely gorgeous city, the birthplace of Mozart, and has awesome chocolates. Definitely my favorite place we went on the trip. I would definitely go back. I just wish it hadn't rained half the time we were there!

Picture two is of the Eagle's Nest in Obersalzburg, Austria. This is the site of the summer home of Adolf Hitler. The house isn't actually there anymore; the building you can see in the picture was a workspace or something, and is now a restaurant. To get there, you have to drive high up in the Alps, park your car, pay $30 Euro, take a 20 minute bus ride up the side of the mountain (where I thought we were going to tumble over and die), then take an elevator up even further, and then you see....a really great view over the Alps. Brian was disappointed that Hitler's house is gone, but some really good plotting to kill over 6 million Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, political opponents, and generally anyone who didn't agree with the psychotic windbag took place where we ate lunch! A lot of the history is gone, as the people are obviously really ashamed of what took place in the area.

Picture three is one of me pretending to drink a huge mug of beer at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. This is a really cool place, an extremely old biergarten where Hitler (there he is again) gave a big speech. For those who like beer, its brews are second to none. Also has good food and the best atmosphere. You sit at big long tables with people you don't know, family style. Great way to meet people. It is absolute chaos. We went there 2 nights in a row and had a great time, except for me almost getting into a fight the second night while pointing out to a fellow American that he was a total jackass and was the reason people hated American tourists.

I also want to say that we spent Thursday at the Dachau Concentration Camp. Pictures were allowed and Brian took a few, but it feels weird to post one there. At least 200,000 people were imprisoned and tortured there from 1933 until 1945, and over 42,000 died. After seeing what I saw, I firmly believe that anyone who denies the Holocaust is a complete whackjob (not that I didn't think that before, this only reinforced my belief). And according to Brian, this was a more "sterile" camp, they've removed a lot of things, and the most graphic things we viewed were in the documentary they showed us. It was a very moving experience, and something everyone should see with their own eyes.

Back to work tomorrow!

Vacation Part One: Czech Republic and Vienna

Vacation is going great! Driving around in Europe is fun, even if gas is around 8 bucks a gallon. The speed limits are crazy high, if there is one at all. Brian is having too much fun. It scares the hell out of me, to be honest.

A brief explanation of these pictures:

Number one is of one of the many churches in one of the many squares in Prague. Prague is beautiful and nice, but, it has changed a lot, according to Brian. He was here about 12 years ago, and it is much more generic and SUPER expensive, like many other parts of Europe. Plus, despite, being part of the EU, they still use their own money, the Czech Crown. The exchange rate is about 15 to 1, so trying to do the math is weird and it is super easy to get ripped off, which we did in a restaurant the first night until we figured it out. A crappy dinner ended up costing us well over $100. Yikes. But, even a cheap dinner cost $50 or $75 (pretty standard in tourist towns in Europe). But, one our second night there, we had a great dinner in a restaurant called U Flecku that brewed their own 13% beer. Brian was thrilled.

The second picture is the Bone Church in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. That is Brian standing next to the real bones of dead people. This whole place is decorated in these bones. It is really creepy. The Ossuary is the common grave of about 40,000 people, many of whom died in wars or of the plague hundreds of years ago. Brian thought it was really cool; I was creeped out. I needed to get out of there after about a half an hour.

The third photos is of me standing at the top of the Gloriette at Schombrunn Palace in Vienna. The palace and the city are behind me. This is a gorgeous palace that used to belong to the Hapsburg family, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We got to go through a ton of rooms, but they didn't allow pictures. We really enjoyed it, but agreed that we'd be miserable living there!

Watch out for another post with pics from Salzburg and Munich right after we get back!

Goin' on Vacation

Holy smokes, we leave for our vacation tomorrow. I can't believe it, it's come so fast! For those who don't know, we're going to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich. I am so excited. I've never been to the continent before, just the UK. Not sure what to expect, although I did fine in Chile on our honeymoon, and that was much more foreign of a culture than Europe. Many people in Europe speak English (although Brian speaks a little German), and as long as you say "Thank you" a lot, they won't brand you a rude American tourist. And, being quiet helps too. No loud talk on cell phones! (And Brian's phone works there, so theoretically, we could use it!)

Anyway, I have most of my clothes laid out, the rest to be laid out today. Brian will do the same and he'll pack them up. We have to leave the house tomorrow around 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon, so I can hit the gym, come home and shower and have lunch, and have time left before I have to go. We've been making ourselves get up early the past few days to help pre-adjust to the time change. The places we are going are 6 hours ahead. But we have to land Thursday morning in Munich, get our rental car and drive to Prague, on very little sleep, so that will be a rough day. The rest should be fine! We planned our own itinerary; Brian is an experienced enough traveler that we felt confident doing that, and he got his International Driving Permit, which was recommended for where we were going.

So, that's about all I have to say! I hope everybody's Fourth of July holiday went well, ours was great. We're taking my computer on the trip and will load pictures off the camera several times to save them, so there might be a post on vacation with some pics!