Quiz: Where is he?!

As every web page and blog nowadays has their monthly quiz I think I start one as well. The price is a pint of Guinness in my favorite Irish pub, I only except emails and the question is simple... where is Ekki? Well, to be more precise from which movie do you think you know this place?



Alright... to make it a bit easier I zoom out a bit. But now it should be very obvious. No? Alright... last hint... REDRUM.

I am sure there will be somebody finally knowing the answer. I never said it is easy ;-)

Size Matters!

As an European over here in the States the first thing you will mention is that everything is a bit bigger. Alex who visited me last week mentioned that too. It starts with the microwave (which easily can cook a whole European microwave in it), continues with the fridge (where it is really easy to loose your milk or a steak) and is most obvious with the sometimes gigantic cars over here were a whole football team easily is seated. But after six month here I finally found something which is SMALLER then in Europe:
A little sweet commonly known as Rolo. The last time I had one back in Ireland it was much bigger then these here. And in America they come separately packed! Outrageous I thought but after all they still taste the same ;-)


In the name of science I will continue my quest of trying different sweets and sodas over here :-)

First visitor

Finally! My first visitor! Most of you know Alex from Ireland, from my house-parties or other night outs downtown Dublin... she was over here on a road trip through the US and stopped by for a longer weekend in Denver!



And of course this was a great opportunity to show her the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Apart of a little thunderstorm in the mountains we had a fantastic weekend hiking through the wilderness... well as wild as it can get in a National Park ;-)



We also met many native Coloradans here... most memorable was this meditating squirrel.

Mille Grazie, Alex for the great time!

And ask yourself... can YOU be my second visitor?! ;-)

Rodeo time

When we Europeans think of America the very first thing which comes to our mind will be Cowboys and Rodeos. Well, the neighboring state Wyoming has both of them and even more. The Cheyenne Frontier Days are the biggest rodeo in the West and I was there to see some action!


What I didn't know was that a Rodeo has like the Olympics lots of different types of contests. The most well known ones are the 'riding on a wild horse' and 'riding on a wild bull' competitions. Everybody from the western states might excuse that I don't know the proper terms for that... for everybody else who might think that this is a bit boring...

The craziest competition of all is the so called 'bull wrestling' contest which is describing pretty well what is happening... one (very brave) Cowboy is jumping on a ragging bull, slams it to ground, turns it on its back and bonds all four legs together. It is really amazing to see people doing that in under 20 seconds! I have to say that this might be one of the last things I am trying in my life ;-)


In all this very typical American festival atmosphere I was able to spot something very familiar: German Bratwurst! A bit overpriced for my taste ($ 7!) but very nice. All German reader will understand my surprise when I read the name of this stand... it was from Hamburg or at least dedicated to the Hamburg way of cooking. Which is quite funny as all famous sausages are not coming from this area... you would expect fish dishes coming from there but well, I should stop complaining. I got a fantastic show and a good Bratwurst. Can it get any better... I don't think so :-)

My Lucky Day

Well, today must be my lucky day. I got a letter in the mail which started off with "Dear Ms. Ekkehard Linden" (see on the left). Now you might wonder why is this simple mistake with his weird name his lucky day? Or maybe you even wonder that in this case he should have more lucky days like this with this kind of a name. But wrong... this was the very first time living almost five years in English speaking countries. The question remains why this possibly could be his lucky day... well the reason is simple... it is from a car insurance company! Yes! That might mean cheap rates for Ms. Linden from now on... I might ring them up though and complain... it reads Mrs. Linden you rude bunch of peoples. Maybe that means even a further reduction ;-) Life is good!

Snow Patrol

Ten days ago I went to my favorite band's concert here in Denver. After all this sold-out concerts in Dublin I was happy when I got the tickets for them quite easily... the venue is just astonishing, it is called Red Rocks and it is a natural amphitheater a few miles out of Denver. According to Snow Patrol it is the nicest place to play in but they might say that about every venue.


They also had time to mess around with the audience. When Gary was joking about that he is as bad in playing football as Beckham nobody in the crowd laughed. Then he turned around and said... sorry, I forgot that I am in the States and you don't know anything about football... ehem... soccer. I was laughing! But obviously not loud enough!


It was a great concert in a great venue. Just the remarkable view over Denver was already worth going there. But with songs like "Chasing cars" and "Setting fire to the third bar" it became a unforgettable night. I had a great time and so had the people around me :-)

Adios Las Vegas

When I booked the trip initially I also got the option to book my wedding with it as well. The White Chapel for $230 which I thought is a great offer... especially as Elvis would do and perform on my wedding! And as I had a few weeks left to find a girl before I went I really thought about this tempting offer. In the end I didn't book the wedding... it was a bit tight even for somebody as handsome as me ;-)

But I saw lots of chapels over there... for example this one on the right! This is the chapel where Jon Bon Jovi got married! And it was just around the corner from my hotel. It can't get better now I guess :-) It is interesting to see that there is a whole industry build around the bound-for-life. Or a few hours at least!


But then it was time for me to count my earnings and to leave the city of glitter, glamor, gamblers, weddings and of course Elvis. Even though I am not a gambler myself I am proud to say that I made three times the money I put in. So there is at least one guy in the world who left Las Vegas with gaining some money! And he had a great time doing so, although he didn't got married. Better luck next time I guess :-P

Glitter and Glamor II

My favorite resort is the Luxor which is a big black hollow pyramid with a sphinx at the entrance. In this roughly 30 storage pyramid you find the hotel suit, shops and an exact copy of Tutankhamun tomb. A bit surprising collection of attractions I have to admit but I am sure that if the Egyptians would have had the same technology they would have done the same ;-)


The Ballagio in the opposite of the Luxor is simply focused on luxury. The fountain show every hour is worth seeing!
Las Vegas is promoting themselves as "around the world in an hour" so it is not surprising that on the other side of this Italian style hotel is France:




Or better the Paris hotel with a 1:3 copy of the Eiffel Tower which is nice to see too. Across the street you also find the Venetian and the Caesars Palace which are finishing this imaginary trip around the world I guess.

Pimp my ride

Finally, after 10 weeks I got my new license plates. I was surprised that it was still available and nobody else got the idea of slapping Ekki onto his car ;-) Well... now its mine but left me wondering if "Ekkis" would be not more approbate.


And I also found time to put this sticker on my car too. When I am stuck in the rush hour traffic jam I have a look into my rear view mirror and think back of Dublin bus. And have a tear in my eye :-)

I wonder if my car is now faster with all these upgrades... where is the Autobahn when you need it?!