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Regarding Ludwig:

C'mon, watching operas alone in the dead of night? Nearly bankrupting the state of Bavaria to build cartoonishly extravagant palaces, none of which was finished when he died? I may have overstated the case by invoking Howard Hughes (I think my point was more towards the sheer power to be nuts that Ludwig commanded, rather than how nuts he was -- I mean, he was a king), but Ludwig was more than just another dandy with money on his hands.

Regarding vino: Had plenty of qualitatschwein from the Mosel, and the part of Italy we were close to would really have been more of a beer drinker's place -- still up in the Alps.

Oh, come on. Is this any different than someone like Paris Hilton blowing her parents cash? While Ludwig was a monarch, it was still inherited money he was blowing; his birthright.

Watching an opera in the middle of the night (especially when you're an insomniac) and building palaces is pure self-indulgence, hedonism at its most snooty and extravagant. Now, if he was insisting on wearing suit made out of chicken bones while watching these stage performances, he'd be crazy. Don't confuse insanity with living the hi-life.

I still say you should have made a dip into Italy, just for kicks.

1. Blog, I can see you're itching for a fight, but you couldn't have picked a more barren and pointless field on which to do battle. I simply don't care. All I wanted to say is that Ludwig II was a genuine eccentric. An oddball even by the standards of royalty. Like it or not, I and most people consider watching elaborate productions of operas alone in the middle of the night to be the behavior of an eccentric. So you think it's just a good idea; fine, that means you are eccentric, too. Maybe I got a bit hyperbolic in making the point, but so freaking what? Move on.

2. We already dipped into Austria and Luxembourg just for kicks! How far must we go, man?

Oh, and it's spelled "scheisse," or preferably "scheiße."

Shiezer! That travelog was honkin' huge and there's more on the way? Fan-fucking-tastic.

Yeah, don't knock yourself around the block. All them purty mountains sure were purty and the shots of the canal, the frog and the creepy basement bar were all neat.

Other shiezer:

- Someone should create a website devoted entirely to international McDonalds franchises. The one in Vancouver BC has chandeliers in it.

- Your hotel was quaint. Too quaint. And we all know what quaintness does to grandmothers.

- King Ludwig was just a bisexual that knew how to have a good time. If I had an infinite amount of cash, I'd be hosting full opera productions in my living room every single night, if only for the pleasent background noise. Howard Hughes, on the other hand, was an undisputed madman that wore Kleenex boxes on his feet, grew out his fingernails and kept his feces in jars while holed up in a Las Vegas penthouse for years. Hughes wins this bout.

- You should have dipped over to Italy, if only to grab a quick bottle of vino.

Eh, I was in fighting mood earlier today. Encountering a few crackheads butting heads with cops in a parking lot tonight has calmed me down a bit.

Is that how it's spelled? I'm not surprised. All I know about the German language I learned while reading subtitles during Run Lola Run. They spelled it "sheizer," I swear

Nah, it's "scheiße." The "ß" is German for a double s. I saw it over there in a magazine, and it's also what you'll get if you punch shit into babelfish. Plus, I heard it said a lot in bars, and there's no "r" at the end, more of an "uh". "SHY-zuh!"

Wow, that's some good sheiße you got there, Dan. I await the rest.

Your recollection of getting shushed when you were just trying to ask about the Nazis reminds me of my own precocious overseas conversation -- in order to keep my father's work visa current, we had to go on vacation, in and out of Hong Kong, every few months. On at least one occasion I decided to explain this gambit (unwisely revealed to me, probably because I asked constantly) to a Chinese security lady, until my mother came over and dragged me back into line.

Anyway, let's see some video.

Video coming soon! I promise! (Ahem, nudum pactum.)

I love your show if i could do one thing in this world it would be to come to your show,bring my grandaughter,Tuesday,so she can meet you in person because she wants to be so much like you and it would help motivate her in all the activities she's involved in.

I love your show if i could do one thing in this world it would be to come to your show,bring my grandaughter,Tuesday,so she can meet you in person because she wants to be so much like you and it would help motivate her in all the activities she's involved in.The one person she talks about all day is Ciara.She says she had a dream of meeting her.