Different taste 6

It is back! The different taste report is revived with two new sodas! First one is a usual suspect in Europe, Pepsi Max... interesting is that it seams to be new-ish over here (American reader might correct me there). Hawaiian Punch is more exotic. You can buy it even at fast food chains... fruity is my verdict!

Sports for the masses

After watching an American football match I surely had to see a "normal" football match to or should I better call it soccer? ;-) Anyway... in best American tradition they had cheerleaders too and quite good one I have to admit!



We watched the Denver Rapids vs. Dallas in their brand new stadium which holds around 18,000 people. Here you see the warm-up match a couple of hours before the main match. The stadium started to fill up in this stage.



The main match was quite good I thought. Especially at the end both teams were going for it. The Rapids are a partner team of Arsenal by the way which you could see in lots of references to Arsenal like firing a canon at the beginning of the match. Unfortunately the Rapids lost 0:1... but never less a very entertaining night!

On the street... again

Well the headline sounds worse then it is... I was on a street festival downtown Denver called Mayo. A Mexican festival but don't ask me about the reason for it... eating and drinking I would guess.




A blast from the past! A Bushido group was there too and I have to admit that they had a few tricks I didn't know so far ;-)






Between all the fairground rides there was one which caught my attention... the Dental Spa. I didn't try it but what could it be? Getting you teeth drilled by a dentist? That is a quite scary and confusing thought!






But finally I gave in and had a traditional Turkey leg! Man, that was a massive snack from which I had to recover the rest of the weekend!

Happy Birthday

Hello everybody!
Thank you very much for your cards, ecards, emails and phone calls! They really made this day special for me! Thanks!

I will have now an Irish Whiskey and a Berger Blanc on the coming years ;-)

Colored bananas?

After all this excitement about crocodiles, rockets and long bridges back to more mundane matter... funny stuff to buy in the states (and which at least I didn't see so far in Europe).

Here on the right you see red bananas compared to the normal (I guess yellow) bananas. Kind of funny I thought and bought them. The verdict was not that surprising... tasted like yellow bananas left on the counter for some weeks. So my suggestion would be calling them brown bananas but that seems like not a good marketing idea to me.

Ship ahoy!

On my last day in Florida I did a snorkeling tour on a boat very similar to this one... well maybe a bit smaller. Even though the water was a bit choppy and a few of the other guests got sea-sick I had a great time.



On our way to the open sea we passed several small and cheap looking houses like this one... in which lots of shots for Miami Vice episodes were taken. Perfect timing that I was wearing my T-shirt ;-)



But then we had to leave the boat. Our guide with full diving equipment and everybody else with just some goggles. But it was great even though the water wasn't that Cristal clear because of the rough sea. You could still see lots of fish and corals though.




But all good things have to come to an end and so I had to fly back on the very same day... back to Colorado... back to Denver. But I will be back! And this time for a bit longer!

Among the rich and famous

If there is a place for the rich and famous ones in the States it has to be Miami Beach. Even parking is a privilege there. Exactly the right place for a young and successful engineer like me.





Now I could write some stories about the wild night-outs I had with some girls at the beach... but you wouldn't believe me anyway. Instead I will write something about the lifeguards and their funky bay-watch-like buoy... fancy ;-)



But it is not like I didn't meet any birds over there... quite the opposite. Here you see some of the most famous inhabitants of Miami beach. Pelicans!




And then I was shocked by an encounter of the third kind. One of the few nude beaches in the States is at Miami Beach as well. I liked the signs warning unknowing pedestrians like me of the dangers I might encounter ;-)

Very very long bridges

The part of my journey I really enjoyed was driving... the weekend in Florida I was accumulating around 1000 miles. But the best highway I took was this one on the left. The Interstate 1 to Key West! This is a combination of several pieces of highway and lots of long bridges. The longest one is this one, 7 miles altogether!


Key West is the most southern part of the US. Here you can see this geographical point of interest... surrounded by wind, water and lots of tourists.







The combination of Cuban, European and American lifestyle is really amazing. The next time I am over there I have to go snorkeling in the Cristal clear Caribbean ocean!



Well, and for all of you who ever wondered if there is a beginning of the American highway system here is the answer. The official Beginning of Interstate 1 is in Key West. Not very amazing but you can buy postcards from this historic side!

Crocodiles and tourists

My Florida trip also brought me to the Everglades, a huge swamp filled with crocodiles, birds, turtles and tourists. Most of them are sitting in boats like this one... the tourists that is.



Being a tourist myself I joined the rest of them in one of such a boat. On the right you can see our pilot who showed us around and jumped even into the swamp for us to show what is underneath the boat... basically mud.


While tourists have a nice and comfy boat the crocodiles have to sit in the swamp! Outrageous! I wonder how long it takes for an animal rights organization to do something about that.


To accelerate this process I took matters in my own hands. This little fella doesn't have to live in a swamp anymore!

To be perfectly honest with you... I saw more crocodiles in Colorado then in Florida ;-)