We Apologize for this Temporary Interruption

...of the Momsoon blog that is, since Mommy's now officially on her 2-week business sojourn in Europe. I will temporarily replace the Momsoon blog with the "A PR Manager's Diary of Dresden and Munich, Germany and England" blog.

But before I get to Dresden, where I am now, I have one Mommy thing to report. I had no idea they now made greeting cards where your child can record their voice in the card. Peter and Lily happened upon one of these Mother's Day cards for me, and now I get to hear Lily say "Mommy, I love you" whenever I want. I will probably wear the card out, since I still haven't found an uncomplicated way (read: a way that doesn't require you to dial 50 digits) to make international calls from here yet. I think I was maybe supposed to get a calling card or something. Oh well.

So now on to Dresden. It's Pfingstmontag today, a holy day and holiday known as Whit Monday in English. I haven't quite figured out it's full significance, but accoording to Wikipedia, it's supposed to represent a "second Pentecost." And since the AMD offices in Germany are officially closed, I took the morning off to go on a bus sightseeing tour. It appeared that the entire city took off work as well, because everywhere I looked the city is teeming with pedestrians, bicyclists, and tourists galore. And all of them drinking coffee or beer. It's challenging to find a plain old water (or vasser) in this town.

Apart from a semi-preponderance of graffiti and an unsightly sighting of a Speedo-clad Euro, Dresden has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Stunning Baroque architecture, hills, castles, fountains, parks and gardens galore, many of them terraced and all of them in full bloom. The city also sits on the banks of the beautiful Elbe river. Owing to a mechanical issue that delayed my flight out of Frankfurt, I arrived after dark last night, but was treated to a take your breath away night view of some of the financial institutions along the riverside. I'm staying in a hotel near the famous Church of the Old Lady, which was left in ruins for nearly 50 years after the city was bombed out in WWII. Reconstruction finally began in 1993 and was only completed a few years ago. I neglected to bring a USB cable to upload photos from my camera, but I'll send some out after my return. To top it all off, the weather is stunningly beautiful today - sunny with temperatures in the mid-70's.

Among the more interesting sites on the bus tour - a sign advertising an "erotic car wash" and the home of the gentleman who discovered rat poison. This discovery made him very rich. You could tell it by looking at his villa.

Well now, I'll get around to doing some work for the day. Auf Wiedersehen for now!