Arriving in Germany this morning was exactly the same as waking up in Minnesota, except instead of my usual hot cup of Eclipse coffee from Caribou, I was holding a hot and mushy egg muffin with the words,’guten morgan’on it. I wanted to take a picture of it. I absolutely love the little touches like that of the country you’re visiting. As if Germans always eat hot little mushy sandwiches for breakfast. It’s a charming part of travel and I love it.

I’m here for the IDS: the International Dental Symposium held every two years here in Cologne. It’s where companies like mine hobnob with other companies like mine. It’s extravagant! A showcase for products used around the world; bigger than any dental show I’ve yet experienced. I’ve wanted to go for years and decided to just do it. Life’s short and this is one thing I’ve wanted to do.

So it’s like Minnesota in that the weather is exactly the same. And it was exactly the same in Amsterdam as if a big weather front is enveloping most of the northern hemisphere. Maybe it is, I wouldn’t know. I’ve been watching TV hoping to figure some things out but to no avail. I can’t understand a word. Except ‘guten’ and ‘morgan.’