There's an app for that

I love reward cards. I love earning points for stuff that I'm buying anyway, only to redeem them later to save money or get other free things. It's one of the reasons that makes travel fun - the six hour flight to Europe is a little more bearable when I know that I'm earning airline miles. Sleeping weeks on end in a hotel is a bit more rewarding when I know I'm earning hotel points. If you've seen "Up In The Air", everything about they parody about earning miles is completely true.

The downside to having all those reward cards is that you end up with a big, fat wallet. Until now. I recently discovered KeyRing, an app that stores all your reward cards on your iphone/droid. It scans the barcode on the card, stores the rewards number and - voila! - virtual rewards card. This is the reason these phone were invented.

So I was at the Harris Teeter (grocery store) the other day and decided to try out my newly digitized VIP card. I opened the app, the clerk scanned the code and my savings began.

And the best part: my wallet can now snap shut.

An (almost) White Christmas

The snow hit Raleigh just late enough to miss a White Christmas. But it was still a beautiful way to keep the Christmas spirit alive after all the presents had been opened. I estimate that we got about 8 inches, which, I realize, is small beans compared to other parts of the country.

Lisbon

I'm a little late about adding Lisbon to the list, but I ended my travels here. It's good to finally be home (and to be home for the holidays), but I really did enjoy my trip to Europe even though it could be a bit tiring at times.

Lisbon was the last city to visit and it was my favorite. People have called it the "San Francisco of Europe" which, I was told, was a bit pretentious of Americans. "Why don't they call it the Lisbon of America?" one Portguese friend asked me. Good point, except that we're the global super-power, not Europe. And we're cooler. And everyone wants to be like us. (Don't believe me? Just listen to the music...it's Katy Perry all day, every day).

Anyway, Lisbon is hilly and has a mini Golden Gate Bridge and is laid-back and beautiful and by the water. It's better than San Francisco. I loved the tile work on all the buildings. It's an easy city to walk around and if you haven't had their wine and pasteries, you haven't lived.

And yes, this last picture is an outdoor urinal on the side of a building. Did I mention Lisbon was my favorite city?

Munich

Up until today, Europe has been fairly warm with temperatures in the high 50s/low 60s. To me, this means a light jacket (unless I'm wearing a sweater). To the rest of Europe, this means heavy coats, hats and gloves. I've been a little confused by the attire.

But Munich was COLD. It truly warranted heavy coat, hats, gloves...and fur-lined boots. Of course, it wouldn't be the spirit of Christmas without a little chill in the air.

I was last in Munich about nine years ago, when I went backpacking after college. So it was fun to see some of the sights that I saw then. I did a lot of walking and toured the Residenz (the king's palace). I ate roasted chestnuts from street vendors (it was my first chestnut experience). I went to mass at St. Michael's Cathedral (one of the benefits of being Catholic is that you don't actually have to understand the language to still participate since it's all the same ritual...always). I listened to street muscisians perform classical and holiday music. And I ate some really great food.

Again, I always underrate Germany. Both Frankfurt and Munich have turned out to be such cute towns...even in the cold.






PS...take a gander at the outdoor muscians. Note the baby grand piano that's performing with them. How in the world did they get a baby grand piano outside?

Frankfurt

Everytime I come to Germany, I'm surprised by how much I love it. I had some time to walk around Frankfurt and watch the Christmas markets go up. Unfortunately, I'm just missing them here in Frankfurt (they don't open until next week), but I can see how magical it's going to be once the Christmas season is in full swing.

On Saturday morning, I walked around the outdoor markets, sipped on a cappacino and had a jelly donut (and, just because it looked and smelled delicious, some sort of pork sandwich with onions...yum!).

I love the quinessential German feel of the city, mixed with the modern shopping. This is what you think of when you think of Germany. It's quite a lovely city.

This is my version of "Ich bin ein Berliner." Eat your heart out, JFK!