Amtseinfuhrungsparty (Inauguration Party)

Yesterday I made the epic journey to Wuppertal to attend an inauguration party hosted by Democrats Abroad NRW Chapter with the NRW-Krew. Okay, my journey wasn't epic at all. It was pretty boring. I met Matty and Marco under the B (B for Barack!) on track 2 in the Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof and we made our way to the party.

As we stepped into The Londoner, we stepped into a bizarre parallel universe where everyone was speaking English (my Englischverbot took a blow), there was English written all over the walls and hamburgers with American flag toothpicks were being served.

Matty and Marco with one of the many sayings. Perhaps a new motto.

Obama being inaugurated

One of my favorite parts of CNN's broadcast was the factoid bar at the bottom of the screen. It said things like "Fact: Joe Biden is the first VP from Delaware." Later it started displaying things which I thought were inappropriate to display in a factoid manner. As in, "Fact: Ted Kennedy has just collapsed at the inauguration luncheon." and "Fact: It has been confirmed that Ted Kennedy has been taken away in an ambulance."

After the main inauguration ceremonies were over and we had witnessed W. and Laura Bush getting into a helicopter and flying away, we decided to order some food.

America on a plate.

Marco examining the strange sauce that was on the hamburger.

I have to say the hamburger did not live up to my expectations. One of the main problems was the disintegrating bun. I have noticed that American-style hamburger buns and bread are not really so great here. Germans know how to bake bread and the German Brötchen is a delicious thing that I will miss dearly when I go back to the States (that and German beer probably top my list), but things just go awry when they make hamburger buns. I think they should just give up and put it on a Brötchen. The hamburger itself was also oddly disintegrating, but the fries were possibly the best I have had in Germany.

Puppy! Dogs are allowed everywhere in Germany!