You may have noticed that I haven't blogged in a week. Well, I was in Northern Germany, near Hannover, all week. The hotel I stayed at was very expensive, in terms of Internet, so I limited my online time to work, since I was there for work.
My company is great in that it flies us business class when we go internationally. Business class passengers get their own TV screens, so I watched 3 movies on the way back yesterday. I also read 2 books during the trip. Reviews on those are forthcoming. In fact...I'll probably be working through the 4 movie reviews that I have in the queue and 2 book review for the next several posts...may even have to do a multi-movie review.
To me, the best part of business trips is the food, and I do love good German food. On this trip, I had 2 fantastic meals, 3-4 mediocre meals and 1 sort of not so good meal.
The first really good meal was a Schnitzel, which in this case was pork, lightly breaded. They topped the huge portion of meat with tomatoes, onions, cheese and Hollandaise sauce and served it with a side of fried potatoes. In Germany, fried potatoes seem to be a standard side. Most often they are fried with onions and often bacon. I had this meal on my first night there, and it was awesome after 20 hours of travel.
The other really good meal was on my last night in Germany. The meetings had gone really well, so we finished early on Thursday and decided to take the train into Hannover. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ate at a very nice restaurant near the main train station in Hannover. I had a plate of Sausages with Sauerkraut and Fried Potatoes. Americans just haven't figured out how to make sausage like the Germans do. This dish was amazing. I had a bowl of potato soup with leeks for the opening course, and that was terrific as well. Very nice to leave with a full belly.
I mentioned that we went into Hannover to tour. One of my coworkers from Germany accompanied me and my other US colleague to Hannover. My German coworker had attended college in Hannover, so we got the nickle tour. Hannover was one of the cities that was almost completely destroyed in World War II, but it has been painstakingly rebuilt to look like it did pre-World War II.
A few buildings stood after World War II, and one was the main Government building in Hannover. A very beautiful building. We were able to go inside and see it. On the main floor, there were miniatures of what the city looked like in 1689, 1939, 1945 and now. The contrast between 1939 and 1945 was unbelievable.
A few buildings have never been rebuilt in Hannover, and we got to go into the remains of a church that was destroyed during one of the bombings. The steeple still stood as well as parts of the walls. There was also a cross still standing. I'm not sure if the cross had been put up since the war or if it remained. This was sort of a surreal moment for me on this trip.
Overall, a good work trip, with good food and luckily a chance to do some sight seeing. Even though it was a good trip, I'm always glad to get back home, and last night, I was definitely glad to be back home.
"Knight and Day": This movie reminded me that Tom Cruise was once an enjoyable actor. I still don't understand why people think Cameron Diaz is so great, and I probably never will. For the first 75 minutes, I was going to rate "Knight and Day" 4 stars. Then the last 30 minutes happened, and really knocked this down to a 3 star movie. The banter between Tom Cruise and, well, everybody was terrific, and the action was good, but it all sorta stopped at about the 75 minute mark.
"The Other Guys": There are some genuinely funny moments in "The Other Guys." Wil Ferrell and Marky Mark (Wahlberg) star in this buddy cop movie about the other guys in the police precinct...the non-action stars. I have never been a huge Wil Ferrell fan, but he was actually really good in this. I also thought bringing in Michael Keaton as the Captain of the precinct was a nice touch. The only problem I had with this movie was Marky Mark...I just couldn't get the SNL skit "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" out of my head. Overall, this is a 3.5ish star movie.
"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World": This is a really different movie. Michael Cera stars as Scott Pilgrim. A side note...Michael Cera is the same character in every movie...that's not going to last when he gets older. Anyway, Scott starts dating a new girl, but that comes with dangerous consequences...Scott now has to face her 7 evil ex's in video game style mortal combat. When he defeats and evil ex, they turn into coins and he gets points. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" was definitely worth watching...approaching 4 stars. There is definitely some adult humor in this PG-13 flick, so be careful.
"Salt": Of the 3 movies I watched on the airplane back from Germany, "Salt" was my favorite, easily reaching 4 stars. There is no female actor out there that can play an action star as well as Angelina Jolie, with the possible exception of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a.k.a. Sara Michelle Gellar). In "Salt", Jolie plays CIA operative Evelyn Salt. Salt is accused of being a Russian spy. That kicks off a series of chases, gun fights, fist fights and plot twists to clear her name and save her husband. Pay attention to this one...I had to work very hard to keep up. "Salt" is just a good, smart action-thriller.
