These are all good questions and since I consider myself to be a ~ nice person, I’ve decided perhaps I should answer them.
We’ve been pretty busy lately. Our May was a hectic one of international fame and fortune- okay well not that, but at least travel. Graglo and I spent the first week of May in NYC for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development meeting. The day before the meeting we went to a street festival where I got to sample the self proclaimed “world’s best cannoli” (I don’t know if it was really the world’s best, but it certainly was tasty), and I met a psychic who gave me a free reading. Among other things, she sensed that there would be children in my life – I pointed to my belly and said she just might be on to something. Clearly she was a woman of much mystical power and skill 🙂
After returning from NYC I had ~ 18 hrs at home to do laundry and pack again and then I flew to my most dreaded city in Europe: Bonn, Germany, for the 3rd and hopefully LAST time of my life. I went there to attend the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and Convention on Biological Diversity meetings. Why do I so dislike Bonn, you ask? Well, I’m not really a fan of German food- I don’t much care for Schnitzel or lots of potatoes covered in cream, and I’ve been there 3 years in a row in May which is Spargel season. What is Spargel you ask? It’s big honking asparagus that has not been exposed to UV light so it’s etiolated, or as most non plant-biologists would say “like pale skin.” Don’t get me wrong, I like asparagus, but when you get a big plate of large, human skin looking asparagus under a pile of cream sauce, well the appeal just isn’t there. The creepy factor is- the whole dismembered body parts thing- but not so much else.
BUT I do have to confess, we stayed at a different hotel in a different city than we’ve stayed in before, and that made it much nicer. Plus, they were out of regular non-smoking rooms, so I got a luxury room on the corner overlooking the Rhine, and that didn’t really suck so much either. AND most importantly, the hotel was by a whole bunch of Italian restaurants, so I didn’t ever have to eat a large German meal!! Score!!!
The 1 lb of spargel our Assistant Secretary got for lunch (yes it really was a pound and yes that really was the smallest size you could order. These people take their spargel seriously, I kid you not!)
Shot from my hotel room window of the Rhine
More shots from hotel room window- cute German restaurant next door
View of Königswinter from my other hotel room window (like I said, I scored and got a master suite with windows pointing in 3 directions- not too shabby)
Sunset on the Rhine- at 9:00 pm and it was only May- yes they are far north!
Is this all I have to say about Germany you ask? NO I answer! Mike came and visited too! More stories to follow…….
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